Harry Potter and the Malfoy Male Pregnancy Curse
by Zikare
Summary: Harry has power Voldemort knows not & Harry's child would have it too. Voldemort has a plan to discover the power. Using dark rituals, he impregnates Draco w/ Harry's child, planning to take & study it. He'll either extract the power & take it for himself or groom child to rule beside him, welding the power for him. Harry kills Voldemort & Draco is left not knowing who the dad is.
1. Chapter 1

Full Summary:

Harry Potter has power the Dark Lord knows not and Potter's child would have that power too. Voldemort has a plan to discover this power. Using a dark spell and a male pregnancy ritual, he impregnates Draco Malfoy with Potter's child, planning to take and study it. He'll either extract the power and take it for himself, or groom the child to rule beside him, welding the power for him. Harry kills Voldemort and Malfoy is left not knowing who the dad is. Worse, the ritual has gone haywire and gets Malfoy pregnant again. The Ministry confiscates all of the Malfoy family's wealth, leaving Draco and Narcissa dirt broke with children of unknown paternity to raise. Then one day Harry receives a letter from Draco's oldest son claiming to know that Harry is his dad. Harry goes to investigate and discovers that the situation at Malfoy Manor is far worse than the Malfoy family lets on—Draco and Narcissa are making the best of it, but they're exceedingly poor. A paternity potion reveals that Harry is the father and he sets out to make things right and help Draco raise their children. Eventually mild slash with a slow build. Rape discussed, but the only detailed rape (not graphic) is in a nightmare and not real. Torture of prisoners discussed, but not detailed. Mpreg. AU with regards to Draco being pregnant during the war.

* * *

Harry was having a very good day. He and his senior partner Bourke Covington had just captured known Death Eater Mather Fawley.

Harry and Ron had made a pact that as soon as they were allowed, they would partner together. Only new Aurors were partnered with senior Aurors for the first two years, so Harry was with Bourke. Bourke, having four muggle-born grandparents and being an Auror for five years now, was very keen to round up every last Death Eater. Harry had a similar mentality when it came to justice, so they got on well.

Harry liked Bourke, even if Bourke wasn't Ron. Harry tended to think that Bourke's parents had overcompensated for their lack of blood purity by giving their son the most stupid sounding name they could come up with. Since it was the purebloods who typically sported the ridiculous names, having a name like that probably threw enough people off his scent before he had to explain what his blood stasis was; Harry still didn't know what Bourke's blood stasis was. Yes, Harry knew that both of Bourke's parents were classified as mudbloods, having each been born to a pair of muggleborns, but what was Bourke? Bourke wasn't muggleborn, and his parents weren't muggleborn, so wouldn't that make him halfblood? Did four mudbloods make a half? Harry didn't know, but it didn't matter much now that Mather Fawley and the rest of the Death Eaters were locked up or dead and their blood status nonsense with them.

Bourke was taunting Fawley now, saying things like, "Your precious spotless blood won't do you much good while you're rotting in Azkaban, Fawley." Bourke tended to get a bit wound up during the hunt and capture and generally liked to banter with the bad guy once they were caught. Bourke wasn't too bad about it though, unlike some of the other Aurors.

Fawley was saying something back, about blood purity always counting for something and then Harry heard a noise. It started off softly at first, although completely out of place and echoing off of the walls. Harry didn't know what the strange sound was, until it picked up and morphed into a shrill wail.

"What the—" Harry said, abandoning Bourke and Fawley to investigate the source of the sound. Fawley was already locked up tight, disarmed, and restrained, so Harry didn't think twice about leaving Bourke alone with the Death Eater. Besides, Auror Patterson was on duty just at the end of the hall. If Fawley did try anything, Patterson would step in and put a stop to it.

Harry walked passed Patterson and down a side corridor a few feet before he found the source of the cries. There was a little black haired baby lying in a bundle of blankets on the floor. "Patterson, why is there a baby in here? Certainly no one thinks a baby could be a Death Eater," Harry called out, still looking at the baby. It's eyes were scrunched up tight and its fists flailed as the little mouth let out the loud caterwauling.

"The baby no, but the parents, yes. That's the Malfoy baby," Patterson answered, walking towards Harry. Patterson's shoes made hard clacking sounds as he stepped. "Malfoy's normally pretty good about taking care of it and keeping it quiet."

Now that Patterson mentioned Malfoy, Harry noticed a blond lump lying passed out on the stone floor. The body was lying in the shadow along the edge of the cell, explaining why he hadn't noticed Malfoy immediately; his eyes needed a moment to adjust to the lighting.

The cell was bare, with only a small, low cot, a toilet, and a sink. There appeared to be a spare nappy or two on the cot, but other than that, it was bare. There were no pillows and the only blanket in the place was the one the baby was lying on. The baby looked surprisingly clean, given the filthy look the cell and Malfoy had to them. Malfoy looked so grungy Harry didn't think all the hot baths in the world could get rid of the dirt.

Patterson was level with Harry now, seeing what Harry saw in the cell.

"Open this cell for me, will you? Malfoy's passed out," Harry said.

"He's probably faking again. He's been making himself throw-up and saying he feels sick for weeks now. Only thing is, every time we call the nurse in to look at him, she says he's healthy. Dehydrated from all of the vomiting, yeah, but if he'd stop making himself puke to get attention, he'd be fine."

"Well even if he's faking, you're not going to let the baby cry, are you?"

"No. Alright, I'll let you in, but I have to lock the door behind you, in case it's a trap. He could turn on you and if he does, you know it's Ministry policy not to bargain with him. I'll let him have you."

"He saved my life once during the war and I his a few times; I don't think he'll repay my looking after his baby by attacking me."

Patterson just shrugged and made a noncommittal noise, before opening up the cell and letting Harry in. The bars slid closed behind Harry with a bang. He immediately went to the baby and picked him up. Harry had Teddy on weekends during his off time, so he had a bit of experience with babies. This baby was much lighter and skinnier than Teddy, but about the same length. He wondered how old the baby was. He had seen Malfoy looking fat at Malfoy Manor last Easter and he'd heard the rumors about Malfoy being pregnant when they captured him at the end of the war six months ago. This baby had been born inside this holding cell while Malfoy awaited trial, but Harry didn't know exactly when. The first month after the war had been completely hectic and Harry hadn't exactly been following Malfoy, because he'd been too busy catching real Death Eaters.

"Patterson, why does Malfoy have his baby in here with him? Didn't they let his mum go? Shouldn't the baby be with Narcissa Malfoy?" Harry asked over the cries.

"Malfoy's nursing him, so they let him keep the brat with him for now. Too generous with them, we are. If the tables were turned, they'd kill the baby of a muggleborn, but what do we do when we capture a pregnant Death Eater? We keep the happy little family together," Patterson answered sarcastically.

The baby was starting to cry harder now. "I think he's hungry; do you have a bottle?" Harry asked.

"No, just turn Malfoy over and hand him the baby. He breast feeds it."

"But he's passed out."

"Faking, my guess," Patterson said with a shrugged.

Harry sighed, put the screaming baby back down on the blanket, and went to Malfoy. Malfoy had a puddle of vomit by his mouth. There was more vomit in a trail leading down from the toilet, which contained far more of Malfoy's stomach contents than the floor. The puke was watery and yellow and didn't look at all like food, making Harry wonder what Malfoy had been given to eat. But he didn't have time to question Malfoy's diet now, because the baby was still crying. Thus Harry pushed on Malfoy's side and pulled out the arm that was trapped underneath, causing him to roll over onto his back.

Malfoy was shirtless, wearing only a pair of black and white striped bottoms. Harry was taken aback when he saw Draco's swollen chest. The small curves were more the type of thing he expected to see on a witch, not Malfoy. He had never seen a breast feeding wizard before, so he didn't know if Malfoy's chest was normal or not. Merlin, he didn't think it was normal for a wizard to be getting pregnant, giving birth, or nursing at all. He had first come across the phenomena during his Auror training, because the Ministry could get sued if an Auror roughed up a pregnant person, hence the section in his training guide on the subject. So Harry knew it was possible, but that didn't make it normal.

"Now what do I do?" Harry asked, looking back and forth between the passed out Malfoy and the screaming baby.

"Great bugger, just shut the kid up already Harry," Bourke said. His taunting of Fawley was much less fun when he couldn't hear his own jibes over the din created by that baby.

"This hasn't happened to me when I've been on duty before, but I was briefed about it. Official procedure is to help the kid latch onto Malfoy's nipple and let nature do the rest," Patterson said.

"How do I do that?" Harry asked desperately. He'd never even seen someone breast feeding before; he had no idea how it worked.

"My wife breast fed our son. Let me in Patterson and I'll do it," Bourke offered.

Patterson let Bourke in and Bourke quickly positioned the baby at Malfoy's nipple. The baby latched on, silencing his cries immediately. The baby was little, so Bourke stayed there holding him, to make sure he didn't fall onto the hard stone floor and get hurt. While Bourke was tending to the baby, Harry moved up to Malfoy's head, raising an eyelid and peering into one light grey eye. Malfoy didn't so much as flinch, staying completely unresponsive.

Harry needed to figure out a way to help Malfoy. He looked around the stall and noticed an empty cup a few feet away from Malfoy on the floor. The sight reminded him that Patterson said something earlier about Malfoy being dehydrated. Harry filled the cup with water from the sink and took the cup back to Malfoy, holding it up to Malfoy's lips. When Malfoy didn't move to sip the water, Harry pried Malfoy's mouth open and slowly tipped the water down Malfoy's throat.

Three cups of water and one fed baby later, Bourke exited the cell, citing the need to fill out paperwork on Fawley's arrest. Harry stayed and continued his efforts to revive Malfoy. It was another ten minutes and another cup of water later when Malfoy coughed and spluttered on the water. Malfoy's body rose up quickly, turning over so that gravity would help his body clear his airways. Malfoy's coughing turned into vomiting, which had Malfoy once again lunging for the toilet. When Malfoy was done, he lowered himself back onto the floor and breathed heavily.

"Patterson, can you clean Malfoy for me? He's filthy," Harry said. He wasn't allowed his wand in the holding cells, for security measures. Only the guards and senior Aurors had wands in here.

Patterson grunted as if cleaning Malfoy wasn't worth his time, but he flicked his wand and cast the charm anyway. The vomit on and around Malfoy disappeared and the worst of the grime covering Malfoy disappeared, although his skin still appeared to be stained with dirt.

"Thanks," Harry said to Patterson, before turning back to Malfoy. Malfoy's eyes were squeezed shut, but in an obviously awake manner. "Alright Malfoy?"

"Hungry," Malfoy replied weakly.

"Patterson, will you get him some bread?" Harry requested.

"Just because he's a bloody Malfoy he expects to get special treatment. If he didn't force himself to sick up all his food, he wouldn't be so hungry. He expects us guards to make extra trips just to bring him a snack."

Harry looked down at Malfoy's emaciated looking body. Without a shirt on, Harry could see every detail of Malfoy's jutting ribcage. Malfoy's abdomen looked shrunken in and the sight reminded Harry of how his own body looked after staying all summer with the Dursley's and not being properly fed.

"Just get him some bread or I'll report to Shacklebolt that you're starving him. He has a baby to feed too, can't you see that?" Harry asked angrily.

Patterson grumbled under his breath, but complied. It turned out that Patterson didn't have to go all of the way down to the kitchens for the bread, because he had an entire loaf of French bread hidden in a cubby hole down the hall. Harry wondered why Patterson had put up such a fuss, when it obviously wasn't a big deal to get the bread for Malfoy. In fact, Patterson could just bring up extra bread for Malfoy and then never have to be bothered with this sort of thing.

Patterson handed a large chunk of the bread over to Harry, who gave it to Malfoy. While Malfoy ate greedily, Harry told Patterson to bring Malfoy more food every day, because of the baby.

"Look, I'm not starving him. I brought the extra loaf from the kitchen when I brought their lunch, didn't I? I was just waiting until three to give it to him, so it doesn't come back up and I don't have to go down to the kitchens for another," Patterson explained.

"Right, so you're not the bastard starving him. Just give me another hunk for him," Harry ordered.

Patterson did as told and said, "You shouldn't give him too much at once like this, or it'll be wasted when he pukes again."

Harry shrugged and just requested under piece from Patterson, repeating the process until the loaf was gone. Malfoy drank more water, before looking up at Harry with fear in his eyes.

"I'm sorry. I'll be good, I promise, just don't crucio me again," Malfoy said with a broken high pitched voice.

"I'm not going to crucio you Malfoy. Your baby was crying and I was just trying to help you," Harry replied, holding his hands up, to show he didn't have a wand.

"I'm sorry; I didn't know. I won't let him cry again, just please don't hurt Scorpius. I'll do whatever you want, just don't hurt him." As Malfoy spoke, he lowered himself onto his hands and knees in front of Harry.

"I'm not going to hurt him."

Malfoy's hands were on Harry's thighs now, above Harry's robes, slowly roaming up. Harry jumped back when Malfoy's hands grew too near his crotch. "Whoa, back up there Malfoy," Harry said.

"I'm sorry. I'll do it, please don't crucio me. I can't keep Scorpius quiet like you want if you've crucioed me."

"Malfoy, who's been torturing you?" Harry asked concerned. At first he had assumed it was Voldemort last year, but that couldn't be if the baby was already here when Malfoy was being tortured.

Malfoy blinked, shook his filthy blond hair, and stared at Harry, before blinking again. "I don't understand." The tone of his voice sounded confused.

Maybe using Malfoy's first name would help. "Draco, have the guards here been torturing you with the cruciatus curse?" Harry asked.

Malfoy still looked confused, but this time his gaze kept darting to the hallway behind his bars. Harry followed Malfoy's gaze straight to Patterson, before Malfoy's gaze flickered to the floor.

"Vance was punished for torturing prisoners last week. Can't say that I blame him after what the Death Eaters did to his family. Malfoy's probably just mistaken you for Vance," Patterson explained with another shrug.

Harry had been looking at Patterson as he spoke, but when he turned back to Malfoy, he saw that Malfoy was removing his striped prison trousers. "Oi, stop Malfoy! What are you doing?" Harry asked, reaching out and grabbing Malfoy's arms, to physically stop Malfoy from stripping.

"I'm sorry. I thought this was what you wanted. I'm sorry," Malfoy said.

"What did you think I wanted?" Harry asked confused. He had a feeling he wasn't going to like this.

"I'm sorry; I don't know what you want me to say. I'll say or do whatever you want, if you just tell me. Please don't hurt me and the baby again."

"Draco, who's been hurting the baby?" Harry was furious now.

"He doesn't like the baby. Isobel likes Scorpius, but he doesn't. Isobel comes in in the mornings after him and helps me clean Scorpius up. She gives me the clean nappies too. I like Isobel," Malfoy said.

Isobel MacDougal was one of the new Auror recruits. She had been in their year in Hogwarts and had fought on their side during the final battle. They were training her to guard the holding cells. Harry had been here to drop off a prisoner a time or two when Isobel and her senior partner were on duty. Isobel always had the morning shift.

"So it's the night guard, is it?" Harry asked.

Malfoy deliberately looked to his side, away from Harry, but didn't answer.

"Vance was on the night shift," Patterson offered helpfully. "They've been rotating guards through here trying to pick his replacement. I bet that whatever happened, it was Vance."

"Draco, listen to me," Harry said, shaking Malfoy slightly. Malfoy looked up at Harry and they made eye contact. "You need to tell me who he is so I can make sure he never comes back to hurt you and the baby again. Can you do that Draco? Can you tell me who to keep away? Was it Vance?"

Malfoy seemed to consider it for some time, before he leaned in and whispered into Harry's ear. "Are you like Isobel then?"

Harry wanted Malfoy to trust him, so he answered, "Yes, I want to help you like Isobel; you have to tell me who's hurting you. Is it Vance?"

"And Aescwine," Malfoy whispered. "Aescwine's worse."

Harry knew that Aescwine was the other Auror who regularly worked the night shift. He liked Aescwine even less than Vance. Aescwine was a muggleborn whose entire muggle family had found themselves at the wrong end of a Death Eater's wand during the war. But Aescwine wasn't like Bourke, who just wanted justice; Aescwine preferred retribution of the eye for an eye type.

"What does he do to you?" Harry asked.

"If I'm good he doesn't hurt me too bad; he uses lube," Malfoy whispered.

Malfoy said it so quietly Harry didn't know if he heard Malfoy right, but Harry gasped in shock just the same. Harry was stunned silent for a minute, before he thought of another question to ask. "Is that why you're sick? Did he hurt you last night?"

"No, not last night, no."

"You really are sick, aren't you Draco? If I take you to be seen by the nurse, and you're not sick this time, they won't let me help you again."

"No, I'm not sick."

"So Patterson was right? You're making yourself throw up?"

"No, not that."

"Then what? Merlin, you were passed out in your own vomit when I found you and you puked again after you woke up. Why?"

Malfoy looked down, as if he were embarrassed. "Pregnant again."

"You're pregnant again? How can you be pregnant? You've been locked up in here since you had your baby, haven't you?"

"He's said that before, that he's pregnant. I took him down to the clinic and had him looked at; Medi-witch Jones and I both did the pregnancy spell and both were negative. I remember it, because it was Samhain and instead of going to the annual feast at my grandmother's house, I was stuck here with Malfoy insisting that he's pregnant, even though that's impossible. I think he's gone a bit loopy and forgets that he already had the baby and it's right in there with him," Patterson said.

"Aescwine," Malfoy said. He had gone over to the blanket and was checking on the baby now. He seemed to be satisfied that the little guy was fine and that like Isobel, Harry hadn't hurt his baby.

"Humor me Patterson and cast the pregnancy detection spell," Harry requested.

"There's no way he can be pregnant again. He hasn't left that cell except to be seen in the clinic since he got here," Patterson said.

"Surely he must've at least been taken to St. Mungo's when he had the baby," Harry said. "Maybe they took him out some other time and didn't tell you."

"He had the baby over in the clinic. Medi-witch Jones delivered it right here."

"Just cast the spell Patterson. If he's not pregnant, what harm could it do?" Harry asked.

"It'll encourage him to keep seeking out special treatment. He needs to learn," Patterson replied, before casting the spell.

The spell gave a positive result, indicating that Malfoy really was pregnant again and Patterson had to eat his words. The first pregnancy spell had come back negative not because Malfoy wasn't pregnant, but because it was too early in the pregnancy to detect it.

* * *

Author's Note: I've said this before, but this story I intend to be short. I have the timeline for it worked out, and right now it's about 15 chapters. I plan on updating approximately once a week. And for those of you reading my other story, Blood of the Enemy; although the initial concept of Voldemort impregnating Draco is the same, everything else, down to the mechanism of male pregnancy and why the baby is Harry's, is different. One of the major differences is that the first baby is already here, so this story will be more family oriented, focusing on the children. Also, this story isn't a romance, but more about friendship, healing, and perseverance. Harry initially is in a relationship with Ginny, while Draco is too scarred mentally from abuse he's suffered at the hands of his night guards to be interested in having a relationship with anyone of either sex. There will be a slow build to a Harry and Draco romance, but because of how emotionally damaged Draco is, do not expect more than hand holding and maybe a kiss on the cheek.

Please review and let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

Once medi-witch Jones knew what to look for, she confirmed that Draco Malfoy's symptoms really were due to his undiagnosed second pregnancy. She put Malfoy on an anti-nausea potion and increased his food intake allowance accordingly, but Harry didn't think she was doing enough. She couldn't know much about medicine if she had missed Malfoy's pregnancy, even though she knew Malfoy claimed to be pregnant before. Harry would have felt better if he could just take Malfoy and baby Scorpius to St. Mungo's to be checked out, but he couldn't with Malfoy's status.

Malfoy was being held in Ministry custody pending his trail as a Death Eater. He was pretty much a sitting duck in his cell, just waiting for Aescwine or Vance to come back and abuse him again. Of course Harry went straight to his boss Robards and reported the abuse. Vance had already been taken off of guard duty and now Aescwine was too. Harry convinced his partner Bourke to temporally fill in the position of night guard once a week while they found more permanent replacements. It gave Harry a chance to check on Malfoy and little Scorpius, but it also gave him plenty of time to question Malfoy and get Malfoy to open up to him.

Harry had also convinced Bourke that they should investigate Aescwine and Vance's misconduct. The two former night guards were only suspended pending their day in court; if no one bothered gathering evidence and putting the case together, they would be cleared and might even get their jobs back. Harry was not about to let Vance get away with torturing the inmates and Aescwine with raping Malfoy. Malfoy may have made a few mistakes, but there was absolutely no excuse for an Auror to rape or torture a prisoner in Ministry custody.

Harry didn't even think Malfoy's crimes were that bad. Sure Malfoy had willingly joined the Death Eaters and had almost killed three people sixth year, but in the end, he couldn't do it. Malfoy had lowered his wand on the Astronomy tower. Malfoy had also lied for Harry when Harry had been captured by snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor. And during all of those glimpses of Malfoy Harry had throughout the war, Harry could always tell that Malfoy hadn't wanted to do what Voldemort and the other Death Eaters were making him do. By the end, Malfoy had been forced into serving Voldemort.

Malfoy's questionable guilt, combined with the fact that he had a newborn baby and was currently pregnant as result of a rape that had occurred while in Ministry custody made Harry determined to get Malfoy cleared of all charges. While Harry was putting together his case against Vance and Aescwine during working hours, he was working on his case for Malfoy's freedom at home. During his one night a week to question Malfoy, Harry also made sure to question Malfoy about the crimes Malfoy had been accused of, so he could gather evidence in Malfoy's favor.

The biggest crime in Harry's eyes was Malfoy's pregnancy with Scorpius, but Malfoy obviously wasn't the guilty party there. It happened slowly over time, but eventually Malfoy opened up to Harry and told Harry about Scorpius' conception on Halloween night the year before. Voldemort had conceived the baby with some ritual and Malfoy hadn't really wanted to go along with it, but thought he would be killed if he refused. Lucius Malfoy was already out of favor with Voldemort at the time and Voldemort chose Malfoy both as a way to punish him for not killing Dumbledore himself and fully fulfilling orders, and as a reward for his role in Dumbledore's death and letting Death Eaters into Hogwarts.

A ritual was typical with a male pregnancy. Excess body parts had to be created and that required a potion, with conception being more likely if ritual magic was involved. So the fact that there was a ritual wasn't unusual. What was unusual was the dark magic Voldemort had incorporated into it and the séance calling upon the spirits of their dead ancestors to guide the creation of this new life; Voldemort had been trying to create a more powerful wizard to rule beside him. At least Malfoy hadn't been made to have sex with Voldemort.

The fact that there was no actual sex involved wasn't unusual for a male pregnancy; the semen from each parent had to be collected separately, prepared differently, and then combined in just the right way during the ritual, or conception would never happen. That was how Voldemort had fooled Malfoy, no doubt, because the one thing that seemed to be certain was that Voldemort hadn't used his own semen to create Scorpius. The Auror department had brewed the paternity potion half a dozen different times. The baby had been tested and retested and not once was there any indication that tissue taken from Voldemort's corpse was linked to Baby Scorpius.

Voldemort had told Malfoy that Malfoy was to carry his baby, but had secretly used semen from some other wizard. The father was likely a Death Eater and maybe even one of Voldemort's loyal supporters, given that Voldemort had chosen to take the wizard's sperm to create what was to be his heir, but the father was not actually Voldemort himself. Harry was quite relieved when he learned that Malfoy's innocent little baby wasn't actually Voldemort's spawn. Harry really didn't fancy the idea of Voldemort having left a kid behind in this world to carry out Salazar Slytherin's noble work in Voldemort's absence.

That just left the questions of who Scorpius' father was and how exactly had Malfoy gotten pregnant the second time, without the ritual. It wasn't unheard of for one male pregnancy to be followed by a second spontaneous pregnancy, given sex. Once the organs from the first pregnancy were there, they were there until the wizard stopped nursing. Malfoy was still nursing Scorpius, which explained why the potion wasn't needed. As for how the semen from both parties met, joined, and the resulting embryo made its way to the correct location inside of Malfoy, that was a bit harder to explain.

Malfoy still had the birth canal from Scorpius' birth, which explained how Aescwine's seed got in during the rape, but Malfoy's semen shouldn't have been present. It was never deposited nor treated with the proper potions to make it bind to Aescwine's semen, so how did this baby form? No one could be certain, but the best guest was that it had something to do with the residual magic from the ritual of the first conception.

Second spontaneous male pregnancies tended to occur exactly on the anniversary of the first male pregnancy, when the residual magic was the strongest. Malfoy's second pregnancy did seem to have occurred on or near Halloween night, exactly one year after Scorpius was conceived, so the residual magic hypothesis was likely. The ritual was probably a really strong one, given that Voldemort, a séance, and dark magic were all involved, so there was likely plenty of residual magic buzzing around Malfoy. That combined with Malfoy's repeated rape at the hands of Aescwine, explained how Malfoy had gotten pregnant.

Aescwine had to be the father of Malfoy's second baby, but who had fathered his first? Who was little Scorpius' other father, if not Voldemort? Whoever it was, he must have had coal black hair if the baby's coloring was anything to go by. Scorpius didn't have much hair, but what he did have was very dark. Voldemort had originally had black hair, but black hair was extremely common; Draco even had one black haired grandparent. Scorpius' bright blue eyes too could be found in Draco's family, with Narcissa Malfoy and her father both having the same shade of blue as the baby. Scorpius wasn't pointy enough to bear that much of a resemblance to Lucius Malfoy's side of the family, but the baby seemed to have the rugged good looks of a Black.

Most of the Aurors thought it was a possibility that the black hair, blue eyes, and facial features had all come from Malfoy himself. Of course Harry had gone to Hermione with his speculations, to see what she knew on the matter of inheritance. Hermione, having studied muggle genetics in her free time, thought that it was impossible for Malfoy to have contributed the black hair and unlikely the blue eyes, although she did admit that the Black facial features probably did come from Narcissa, through Draco.

Whoever Scorpius' second father was, two things seemed to be certain. First, they would never know for sure, now that Voldemort and all of his most devout followers were dead. Second, the other father was himself deceased. In their zeal to prove beyond a doubt that Scorpius wasn't Voldemort's spawn, the Aurors had tested every captured Death Eater for paternity. Sure they had the multiple negative paternity tests concerning Voldemort, but until they had a positive test with someone else, there was still the slight chance that the paternity detection potion had been faulty all six times. Maybe the Ministry had gotten an entire crate of boomslang skin that was passed its prime and the resulting potion would never confirm anyone as father.

Even all of the late black haired Death Eaters were exhumed and tested, but still there was no match. The possibility that the other father was still a fugitive remained, but as more and more Death Eaters were brought in and tested, that seemed increasingly unlikely. Therefor the only explanation was that Scorpius' father was a Death Eater who had died without leaving behind a body for the Ministry to test or had died and hadn't had black hair after all. There was a push by a few to exhume all of the non-raven haired Death Eaters, but that was squashed by pointing out how many Death Eaters had died without leaving behind bodies. An entire cluster of them had been killed in an explosion while on the run a few months back, not to mention those who died on the run and were ravaged by animals or cremated by fellow Death Eaters, so that their bodies wouldn't be desecrated.

"You know who I think it is, Harry?" Bourke asked.

"No, who?" Harry replied.

They were once again on night duty, with Malfoy there to question if they came up with a new idea. Malfoy was being fed more and didn't look quite so shockingly thin and was cleaner too. Harry himself was now responsible for forcing Malfoy into the shower once a week and making sure he was bathed. Male prisoners were to be escorted to and from the showers by male guards and Harry was the only male Auror that Malfoy would let near him. When Harry wasn't on guard duty, Malfoy had to settle for cleaning charms from Isobel. It was Isobel who bathed Baby Scorpius almost every day, making sure that the baby was clean. But as a female, she wasn't allowed to escort Malfoy to the showers.

At first Harry had assumed Malfoy's grubby appearance was due to neglect on the part of the guards and that no one was taking him to the showers like they were supposed to. But now that he had personal experience with the arduous task, he felt infinitely more sympathetic to the guards who were trying, because Malfoy was truly a nightmare to bathe. Malfoy refused to willingly undress in front of the male Aurors and even soiled himself on occasion, because male guards wouldn't stop looking at him when he needed to use the toilet. Harry solve part of the problem by providing Malfoy with swim shorts before trying to get Malfoy into the shower.

Once the swim shorts were on, there was always a fight to get Malfoy to leave Baby Scorpius with Bourke, since the baby couldn't go into the showers with him. Malfoy didn't trust Bourke to be left alone with the baby, so they had to take the baby to Malfoy's aunt, Mrs. Rosier, over in the female Death Eater side of the holding cells. Malfoy trusted Mrs. Rosier to watch the baby and keep Scorpius safe from Bourke and the other guards. But the hand over never went smoothly, because Malfoy wasn't allowed to hand over the baby himself. It always took Harry about half an hour to reassure Malfoy that he was taking Scorpius over to his aunt and that the baby would be fine.

Convincing Malfoy to leave his baby wasn't even the worst part about bathing Malfoy. The worst part was that Malfoy always insisted on turning the temperature up to scalding hot. Harry would turn it on at a normal temperature, but Malfoy would complain that it was cold and that he was freezing. The inmates were allowed to control the temperature lever themselves and if Harry so much as blinked Malfoy would have that lever up to scalding again. Harry always knew immediately when Malfoy did it, because he could see smoke billowing out from the water and Malfoy's skin turning a burnt, scarlet color. Then Harry would have to step in and spell the lever back to normal so that Malfoy wouldn't keep standing there, burning himself. And then there was the burn salve to be applied, to heal the damage; he was prepared now, with the tube of salve already in hand.

As much work as it was to get Malfoy into the shower, he never seemed to want to leave either. Harry would ask Malfoy if he was done yet, but no matter how long Malfoy had been in there, nor how much soap he had used, nor how much he had scrubbed, he always answered in the negative. Harry had to go by the clock with Malfoy and force him out and back to his cell when the requisite time was up.

Harry wasn't looking forward to the process later tonight, but he would do it, because he was the only one willing to put up with Malfoy and his shower oddities. And well, given what Vance and Aescwine had done to Malfoy, Harry really couldn't blame him for being afraid to go into a bathroom alone with a male Auror; Malfoy was probably afraid he was going to be raped again and couldn't differentiate that he was safe and that it was just Harry this time. And from what Hermione told Harry about rape victims wanting to wash the touch of their rapist off of them, it seemed that spending hours in scalding hot water was a normal reaction to being raped. Harry would put up with all Malfoy's shite later tonight, so that Malfoy could have one proper shower a week, but that was not until later. Right now it was still questioning time.

"Marcus Flint. He had black hair, didn't he? And his father, when we questioned him, had those same bright blue eyes. Flint died in that explosion with the rest of them Death Eaters over in Yorkshire."

"No, not Marcus. Marcus is too big and muscular; he was shorter and scrawny," Draco replied, looking up from where he sat in his cell on his cot, holding his baby.

"How do you know how big he was?" Harry asked. "I thought you never saw him?"

Malfoy just shrugged.

"Draco, answer me, this is important. If you saw him, then you have to tell me who he was," Harry said seriously.

"Don't know," Malfoy replied.

"You don't know his name, but you saw him, yeah? You could draw us a sketch. You're good with sketches, aren't you?" Harry asked, remembering all of the sketches Malfoy used to draw in school. Harry still remembered the one depicting himself being hit by a bludger and falling off of his broom.

"Not really," Malfoy answered.

"Not really, you're not good with sketches, or you didn't really see him?" Harry asked, glancing over at Bourke. Bourke always let Harry interrogate Malfoy, because Harry seemed to get more out of Malfoy. Malfoy shied away from Bourke, like he was scared Bourke would turn out to be like Vance and Aescwine.

"Didn't really see him."

"What did you see? And when did you see it?"

"In my dreams. I can never see his face, but he's small and scrawny, like you."

"Patterson will need to be told about this one; he's got ten galleons down on Malfoy being bonkers," Bourke whispered quietly to Harry.

Harry and Patterson had a disagreement about Malfoy's sanity. Patterson thought nothing Malfoy said could be trusted, because Malfoy was clearly insane. Harry thought Malfoy was just a little mixed up in the head, from all of the rape and torture. Harry was sure that if he asked the right questions, he could get the answers out of Malfoy. Malfoy assigning paternity of Scorpius to a scrawny figure he'd seen only in a dream would be counted as a mark in Patterson's favor. And then there were a couple of instances when Malfoy had mistaken Harry for Aescwine and Harry had to prevent Malfoy from acting inappropriately; that along with Malfoy's reaction to a shower were additional marks in Patterson's favor.

"And what else could you tell about him? Could you see his hair?" Harry asked, hoping that this dream was really Malfoy's subconscious way of revealing a memory Malfoy had tried to suppress.

"Black."

Harry took an intake of breath, hoping that Malfoy had seen Scorpius' other father after all. If they had even this vague physical description to go on, maybe they could figure out the riddle. "And when did you have this dream? Around the time of the ritual?" Harry asked hopefully.

"Halloween."

"Halloween last year, I knew it. Voldemort may have switched the semen, but somehow Malfoy had this dream of the real father," Harry proclaimed.

"I remember, because Scorpius woke me up screaming right after. Aescwine came over and told me to shut the baby up or he was going to shut Scorpius up, permanently," Draco added, dashing Harry's hypothesis.

"He had the dream this year, not last, from the sounds of it. It was likely some random dream," Bourke said.

"Maybe it came to him from the residual of the ritual. Maybe he didn't see the father then, but still knows," Harry replied to Bourke. "Draco, what makes you think this man was Scorpius' father?"

"Not Scorpius, this new baby," Malfoy answered.

"What?" Harry asked in shock. They were talking about Scorpius, weren't they? Everyone knew that the new baby was Aescwine's.

Malfoy just put his hand over his growing lower abdomen and looked down at the baby within his body. "Scorpius was the Dark Lord, I told you. This one was the scrawny wizard with black hair."

"What makes you say that?" Harry asked.

"He was the one who touched me that night," Malfoy said with a shrug.

"So there were two Aurors raping him?" Bourke asked incredulously. "We've got to look at who was on the schedule with Aescwine that night. It could be anyone who has been assigned guard duty since Malfoy had the baby."

"Are you sure Draco? Are you sure this baby isn't Auror Aescwine's?" Harry asked. Aescwine didn't match Draco's description at all. He was big and burly, with mousy brown hair and honey brown eyes. Vance too was larger and didn't have black hair.

Malfoy nodded and handed Harry out a dirty nappy to clean. The fact that Malfoy randomly seemed to hand Harry things to clean was one of Patterson's points against Malfoy's sanity. Why didn't Malfoy just hand the blasted things out right after changing the baby? Why would Malfoy wait in the cell with the filth balled up next to him for hours, before realizing that the guards were there and willing to clean soiled nappies? Harry thought it must have to do with Vance's or Aescwine's neglect. Patterson thought it was because Malfoy had lost his sanity.

"But you said it was a dream," Harry protested.

Malfoy shook his head and seemed to be having trouble remembering again, judging by the confused look on his face.

"Did this other wizard rape you on Halloween?" Harry asked.

Malfoy nodded.

"Who was it? Another Auror?"

Again, Malfoy nodded. Harry and Bourke both let out heavy sighs as they realized the abuse was more widespread.

"You stay here and I'll get the logs for that night," Bourke said, walking away from Malfoy's cell, towards the guard office.

"Do you know his name Draco?" Harry asked gently.

Malfoy shrugged and said, "Potter."

"Yes, it's me Harry Potter, Draco. You were telling me about who impregnated you in here. Who raped you Halloween night?"

"Can't make out the face. Concealment charm maybe," Malfoy answered, trailing off in thought. "Or polyjuice; bad polyjuice that didn't fully take."

Harry sighed in frustration, wondering who had come in here with Aescwine that night and abused Malfoy. If the Auror had done something to disguise his appearance, it would make finding the culprit that much harder. If it was polyjuice, maybe it was Aescwine after all, or even Vance.

"No one is signed in Halloween night, besides Aescwine," Bourke said, coming back to Harry.

"Then he's confused and it really was Aescwine," Harry replied.

"Or one of his buddies who wasn't supposed to be on guard duty at all. Someone who was more concerned with being found out, so Aescwine snuck him in for some fun."

"No, I think it was Aescwine by himself. Malfoy just said it looked like it could've been spoiled polyjuice. You know that if it sits too long it doesn't properly transform the face. He said he saw the body, but not the face, like bad polyjuice. What if Aescwine was polyjuicing himself to look like someone else, to make the prisoners think there were more corrupt Aurors than just him and Vance? Maybe that's how they got all of them so scared that they didn't tell," Harry hypothesized.

"It's a possibility; we'll just have to wait until the baby is born and test all of the Aurors. I think it's also possible that the culprit wasn't even an Auror, just a friend of Aescwine's," Bourke replied.

"It has to be Aescwine; he confessed," Harry replied.

Aescwine was first questioned under veritaserum, but was able to thwart the potion after all of his years of being an Auror. After that their best legilimens was called in to examine Aescwine's memory. The legilimens confirmed that Aescwine had indeed raped Malfoy and a few of the female Death Eaters too. After that Aescwine confessed and said it was Malfoy's fault for being a queer with a vaginal canal. Harry was furious when he heard it, because even if Malfoy were queer and had willingly gotten pregnant with Scorpius, Malfoy still didn't deserve to have been raped. And Harry didn't know if Malfoy was really queer, because every time he asked Malfoy about it, Malfoy denied it and said he liked witches.

"Alright Draco, tell us about Aescwine and Vance again. Last time you were saying they didn't actively hurt Scorpius, they just neglected the pair of you or hurt you, but left the baby, right?" Harry prompted.

"Vance was going to let me have the baby right on this floor, but Scorpius was stuck and wouldn't come out. Then Vance's shift ended and Isobel came. Isobel made the other Auror take me to the medi-witch. They got Scorpius turned around and out," Malfoy said.

Harry had heard this story before. It seemed to be the most traumatizing event out of all of the times the night guards had neglected him, because Malfoy brought it up a lot. Harry could picture Malfoy lying here on the floor, dying giving birth to a baby that was stuck inside him; just hearing about it the first time was traumatizing.

"What else Draco?"

"Vance liked to crucio me until I'd pass out. And then Scorpius would be all by himself crying until Isobel came in the morning."

Isobel always seemed to save Malfoy in his stories. She came in at six in the morning almost every weekday since before Malfoy was brought in, so Harry and Bourke could see how Malfoy and the other prisoners had seen her as their savior after surviving another night with Aescwine or Vance.

"You're doing really well Draco. I'm going to get Vance locked up in Azkaban for what he did to you," Harry assured.

"Once Scorpius was really sick and wouldn't stop crying. Isobel got him a potion to help, but he was still miserable and fusing. She took him on a walk for me, to calm him, since I couldn't leave this cell and she could. She took him over to the female Death Eater holding cells. Mrs. Rosier, my mother's cousin, is over there. She showed Isobel how to calm Scorpius and sooth his upset tummy with a massage. Isobel brought Scorpius back to me and showed me how to do it. Sometimes Isobel takes Scorpius down there and the women sing and coo at him."

Well that wasn't exactly what Harry wanted to know. It was nice that Isobel had taken good care of Draco and the baby—at least someone had—but Harry needed more dirt on Vance and Aescwine.

"What did Vance and Aescwine do when the baby was sick?" Harry asked.

"Vance wasn't there. Aescwine told me to shut him up or he'd stupefy Scorpius."

"And did he?"  
Draco shrugged.

"I need to know the details of what happened Draco. I need you to tell me," Harry pleaded.

"Don't know; he stupefied me first," Draco admitted with another shrug.

"You're doing great Draco," Harry encouraged, writing down this new information. With details like this, Harry was going to have a great case against Aescwine.

It went on like that, with Malfoy telling Bourke and Harry more things he remembered from his time with Vance and Aescwine. With every new detail, one thought kept crossing Harry's mind: hadn't Malfoy and the baby suffered enough? Shouldn't they be released, for time served? Harry was going to do his best to see that they were.

* * *

Author's Note: Up next Harry will get Draco out of jail.

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	3. Chapter 3

It took time and a lot of work, but Harry eventually got Draco Malfoy released from Azkaban. Vance and Aescwine had been brought up on charges for what they had done to Draco and were in the Ministry holding cells themselves awaiting their own trials.

Over the past six months that Harry had been working on the case, he had only grown even more disgusted with what the former Aurors had done. For Harry, the worst part came in the form of a pensieve memory. He'd asked Draco to show him the memory of the second baby's conception. Draco had refused at first and Harry really didn't want to see the gruesome details, but they needed to know who the father was. They thought that there was a chance that if they saw it, they would be able to tell, so they had kept pestering Draco until he showed them.

The memory was shifty, like from a dream. Neither Harry nor his partner could make out any of the details, especially with the face. There was just black hair and a small scrawny body. Bourke thought that out of all of the Aurors, the body was closest to Harry's, but they both knew that couldn't be; not when it was Harry pushing to investigate and trying to figure out who it really was. After much debate, they had decided that the perpetrator was either not an Auror or was polyjuiced into someone else; possibly even polyjuiced into Harry himself, so that Harry would get the blame if anyone ever found out. Polyjuice passed its prime really was the best answer for why the face was so uniformly blurry during the entire encounter. A pensieve was not like a regular memory; in a pensieve, every detail that is there is supposed to be crystal clear, whether the source of the memory could remember it or not. Pensieve faces were not supposed to be blurry.

Draco looked like he could have fought his attacker off if he tried; the attacker was that short and scrawny. But the guy had a wand while Draco did not and Draco was behind bars, so he couldn't escape. Draco didn't seem to like it, but had lain there on his back and took it on the cot in that awful holding cell. Draco's eyes were closed half of the time and when they were open, he wasn't looking at the wizard raping him, but over on the other side of the cell where Scorpius lay sleeping in the blanket. Draco seemed to be checking that the baby was still asleep.

Needless to say, Draco had been through enough and Harry was able to win the case for Draco's release. The time and date of the release was arranged ahead of time, so Harry made sure to take the day off to help Draco and Scorpius get settled in.

Before the date, Harry went around to Malfoy Manor and visited Draco's mother Narcissa. The Manor was stripped completely bare by the Ministry, with only enough furniture, kitchenware, and dishes for one person, since Narcissa had been the only free Malfoy at the time. The rest of the Malfoy possessions were confiscated and sold off, along with the contents of their vaults—even the peacocks were gone—it had all gone to pay to repair damages after the war. All of the Death Eater families were forced to pay monetary reparations.

A barren Manor wouldn't do for Draco to return to. Scorpius was an active baby, always crawling around and getting into things; he'd just taken his first steps the other day. Draco was getting ready to pop with the second baby and in no shape to decorate a house and had no money to pay for it. Thus Harry went to Grimmauld place and scrounged up one of the beds, which he had Kreacher move over to the Manor for Draco. He'd moved in two dressers and an armoire as well. Then he'd gone out and bought a crib, a toddler bed, a changing table, and a highchair, so that Draco would have the basics. Once delivered, Narcissa set it up, so there was now a room ready for Draco's homecoming.

"Do I have to do this? Can't I just go home?" Draco asked petulantly.

They were currently waiting in a room at St. Mungo's. It was their first stop after Draco's release. Harry had made the appointment as soon as he'd learned the time and date of said release, because he wanted a real healer to check over Draco and Scorpius. Yes, Scorpius looked fine, but Draco was eight months pregnant and was a man! Surely Draco was in need of some proper medical treatment and not the dung heap the Ministry calls a clinic. Draco had given birth and was now about ready to do so again and all without seeing a proper healer, hence there was no way Draco was going to talk Harry out of this appointment.

"No, just grit your teeth and bear it. Aren't you at least excited to see how Scorpius is doing?" Harry asked, holding onto the baby's little hands as Scorpius tried to pull away again.

"Ahh ah aaaah!" Scorpius exclaimed, before starting to fuss at not being let go.

"He's doing fine; just look at him," Draco replied.

Harry huffed, but made Draco stay put. It wasn't much longer before a healer came in to look Scorpius over and confirmed that the baby was healthy. Then there was more waiting for Draco's healer. Harry got up to walk around the room with Scorpius. When he passed by the door, he noticed the display of a pregnant wizard's anatomy on the door. Seeing the depiction of all those organs squished together with a baby bulging out of the wizard's stomach just looked wrong. Harry looked from the diagram to Draco, taking in how obviously round with child Draco was, and then back to the diagram. Why any wizard would willingly go through this, Harry didn't understand. He didn't even understand why a witch would willingly do it, and women were meant to have babies.

Finally the healer entered the room and made Draco lie back on the table for examination. Draco groaned and complained the entire time, asking the woman not to touch him and saying rather loudly how uncomfortable she was making him. He was so far along that when the exam was complete, the healer went over birthing instructions. Since this baby was conceived in Ministry custody, the Ministry was taking full responsibility. That meant that this visit was being paid for along with the birth itself and any other medical treatment Draco would need in association with this pregnancy. Therefore Draco was to come in when the time comes.

The Ministry still thought that Aescwine was likely the father and if not him, it was one of the other Aurors. Once the baby is born, they'd test a whole slew of Aurors until the culprit is found. The Ministry had plans for punishment and financial responsibility for the kid that would go into action as soon as the rapist was known. For now it was the Ministry footing the bill, but they were eager to move the bill along to the man responsible.

"I don't eat any sweets or overdo it. I've been locked up in a five by five holding cell for the last year, for Merlin's sake!" Draco complained.

Harry felt bad for the healer; she was just trying to make sure Draco knew the proper protocol for taking care of his health this late in the pregnancy. Harry himself was worried Draco might get out and take off running or something, because Draco was so excited for his freedom. Harry could picture Draco indulging in all of those things he had been disallowed for so long, but was just glad Draco got a clean bill of health, because he didn't think he could go through another appointment with Draco like this one.

The only time during the visit when Draco stopped complaining was when the healer informed them that he was carrying another little boy. They needed to go shopping next and that knowledge would be important in such an endeavor. And it seemed to be the only tidbit Draco was interested in during the grueling hour.

When Draco was finally released, the three of them headed for a department store in muggle London. Diagon Alley wasn't too far away, but Harry was keen to avoid the wizarding world, because he didn't want to get mobbed by fans when he was out trying to buy nappies. Draco didn't seem too happy about buying muggle, but he didn't have any money of his own and he didn't voice his complaints about this shopping trip. At least Draco didn't until they were actually outside the entrance to the store.

"Harry, muggles don't kidnap children and torture them, do they? The burning on the stakes and drowning in the wells…those things don't still happen, right?" Draco asked nervously, clutching Harry's arm by the elbow.

"No, not so much anymore, but still don't tell them you're pregnant. Let them think you're just really fat, yeah?" Harry asked, shifting Scorpius on his hip. He was carrying the baby, because Scorpius was too large now for Draco to carry. In his present state, Draco could barely walk.

"Right. And Harry?"

"What Draco?"

"Did I mention I'm terrified of muggles? I've never actually met one before, but I've heard the stories the Carrows were teaching us last year in muggle studies. My grandparents used to tell me those stories when I was little. You know, about muggles torturing children?"

"Draco, nothing the Carrows ever said was remotely true. The muggles won't hurt you."

"Harry, just keep a tight hold of Scorpius, will you? And apparate him away if something happens. You can come back for me and play the hero, but save him first, yes?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "Yes, alright. Come on now."

Only then did Draco nod and step forward again, walking with Harry into the store.

Harry found a cart and strapped Scorpius into the child's seat, before leading Draco back to the baby section. "Alright, what size does Scorpius wear?" Harry asked, staring at an aisle filled with every type of nappy under the sun.

"How would I know? I've been in jail the past year and don't buy the nappies, do I? Isobel just brings them in with her. None of these look remotely like the ones she brings," Draco replied, eyeing the aisle skeptically.

"Those were cloth nappies; muggles normally use disposable. They'll work just as good if we can figure out the right size to get."

"Disposable, like they throw them in the bin, instead of washing them?"

"Yeah, that's the idea. They're easier to use."

"But I can't afford to keep coming back here to buy more nappies; not with the rate Scorpius goes through them. They have to have some real ones somewhere."

"Fine, I'll track someone down and ask, but you have to keep quiet and not let on that you're pregnant or have been in jail all this time or anything magical at all."

"Alright, I promise. Go on then."

Harry left Draco standing there and looked around the baby department until he found a chubby young teenager stocking the baby formula.

"Excuse me miss, but can I get your help with something?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, sure, what is it?" the muggle asked.

"Well this is going to make us sound like a couple of fools, but my sister left her boyfriend and me with the baby here for the weekend. We took him to this football game and I thought we were doing so well, only we forgot the nappy bag at the stadium. We need nappies and spare clothes. We don't want to show back up round my sister's place empty handed and look like the morons who lost the nappy bag, you see. Only we've no clue what to get for him. Can you help?"

"Yeah, we've got everything. We should start with a nappy bag to replace the one you lost and then find stuff to fill it."

"Sure, but could we actually start with the nappies? My sister's boyfriend's in the nappy aisle right now and he can't figure out which ones to get." While he talked, Harry led the muggle to the next aisle over, where Draco was still standing. As the muggle appeared in sight, Draco shifted, putting his body between her and the baby.

The muggle teenager eyed Draco skeptically, taking in how fat Draco seemed to be at the waist, but small everywhere else. Draco was wearing trousers and a big baggy sweater, but the belly was impossible to hide. Scorpius was almost completely eclipsed by that belly.

"What brand does your girlfriend normally buy?" the teen asked.

"Cloth," Draco answered, trying to sound normal, but his voice came out tense.

Draco wasn't the bravest person and Harry hoped Draco could pull this off. He pictured how funny he would've found it two years ago if he'd known his boyhood viral was frightened of muggles. Only it wasn't funny anymore and he wouldn't laugh if this didn't go right. They needed clothes and nappies for Scorpius, not an incident report on how many memory charms were perform on muggles to cover up their mess.

"Right, well we've only got one brand of cloth. They're down in this corner, because no one ever buys them. What size is he?"

"I don't know, but he'll be a year old next month," Draco answered.

"Can I check the label in his clothes? That will normally tell," the teen said.

Harry peered into the back of Scorpius' shirt, but it was wizard made and had no label. "Um, I think my mum hand sewed these clothes. She's always making things like these little outfits," Harry lied with a shrug.

"I think he probably needs a size twelve to eighteen months. It's always best to go larger. This way he can fit in them for longer," she said, grabbing a pack of nappies from the shelf.

Harry took the package and saw that there were only three inside. "Yeah, these are good, but we're supposed to be watching him all day today and tomorrow too. Do you have any more?" he asked.

They did have a few more packages, so Harry grabbed them all.

"You'll need wipes and food too, if you've got him for the weekend," she said, pulling out a large package of wipes.

Harry agreed saying, "Yeah, and if we buy loads of stuff, maybe she won't notice that we've lost all her stuff. She might be so happy that we're helping out that she forgets to chew us out." With that, he grabbed another package.

"You can try it, but I'm sure she'll notice eventually, especially if you've lost handmade items," she said. Then she took them over to pick out a new nappy bag and some baby food to go with it. "Now what type of formula and bottles does she use? You'll want to get exactly the same, or you could, like, upset his stomach or something."

"Um, she nurses," Draco replied stiffly.

"Yeah and we haven't lost the bag of breast milk; we put that in the fridge before going to the game. We only lost the one empty bottle, so I think we'll be good," Harry hastened to explain, before the muggle thought they were taking a baby all weekend with no milk.

"Good thinking there; she'd probably be pissed royally if you lost that," the teen said, before leading them over to the rattles and soother section. "Now she probably had a small toy and a binky in the bag; you'll want something for when he starts fussing."

Neither wizard knew what to make of this section, but Harry grabbed a few rattles and moved her along to the clothing section, where the muggle explained how to tell which size they needed to get. "And if you're really not sure, you can always take one of each size to the fitting room and try them on," she finished.

They took her suggestion and decided to try a set of clothes on Scorpius for size. The baby fit in the size nine months still, but Draco ended up getting the next size up. They spent a long time looking through clothes, picking out tons of things, since Scorpius needed an entire wardrobe. While they shopped, the muggle wandered off, to finish restocking the baby formula section. As soon as she was out of ear shot, the wizards started discussing what to get for the new baby too. Now that they knew it was another boy, they picked out a bunch of tiny boy outfits.

On their way out, Harry swung the cart back by the nappy aisle and grabbed all of the cloth nappies in the other sizes too, so that Draco would have them for the new baby. He even bought the two packs in the largest size, figuring that Draco could shrink them down for Scorpius to wear now; there were just so few of the packs in each size that Harry thought it would be best to grab them all. The cart was completely full of baby stuff when they finally made their way to the front of the store to pay.

Next stop was Malfoy Manor, where Narcissa Malfoy was waiting for them with open arms. She hugged and kissed Draco and Scorpius repeatedly, before thanking Harry for his help over and over again. Harry stayed and helped watch Scorpius, while Narcissa got Draco situated and put away all of the new baby things.

"I hope you don't mind, but with Draco being pregnant, I gave him the bed the Ministry left me, because it's bigger. I've taken the bed you brought over to my room," Narcissa explained as Draco plopped himself down on the couch in the sitting room.

The room looked bare, having only the one couch and nothing else. All of the doors were open and Harry could see that the other rooms looked equally bare. There seemed to be nothing but a desk and a single chair through one door, while another door contained a completely empty room. Draco's room had the furniture Harry had already brought over and Narcissa's room contained the small amount of furniture the Ministry had left her, along with the small bed Harry had brought. There were stairs, going up to another floor, but Harry didn't think it would have anymore furnishing than there were down here. In fact, Harry couldn't imagine there being anything at all on the third floor, or Narcissa would have brought it down to furnish this part of the house they were living in.

So it wasn't much, but it was enough to sustain the family of four for a few years. Draco would have the baby soon and Narcissa was here to help him with the children. Harry had seen crops growing outside, so he knew there was food; the family wouldn't starve. And Draco had been promised a minimum of 20 galleons a month support payments by the Ministry for the new baby, so there would be some cash coming in, even if it wasn't much. It would get them by for now and Draco had his skills. Harry was certain that Draco could make enough money brewing and selling potions out of the Manor that the Malfoy family would be alright. The Malfoys always seemed to land on their feet, didn't they?

Harry knew that Draco would make it, Draco just needed one more thing; the hawthorn wand. Harry still had it after all this time, since Draco hadn't been allowed a wand while incarcerated. Of course Harry hadn't needed it, not after having repaired his own phoenix feather wand; he had been saving Draco's wand to give back. Harry pulled it out of his pocket and casually handed it over to Draco.

"Here, I thought you might need this back," Harry said.

"Thanks! I never thought I'd see it again. I thought it was destroyed in the war," Draco replied, taking the wand and examining it closely.

"I didn't need it after I repaired my old one. You're free, so you can have one again. You'll be able to take care of your boys yourself now."

"It's good to be free. Thank you for everything you've done for us. You're not such a git after all."

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Author's Note: Next chapter the story will jump forward in time to when they finally find out who the father is.

Please Review!


	4. Chapter 4

Harry hadn't heard from Draco Malfoy or any of the other Malfoys in almost six years when he received the letter. He occasionally heard news about Draco, Scorpius, Caelum, and Narcissa Malfoy from Tonks' mum, Andy. Draco never visited Andy and Teddy, but Narcissa occasionally brought the boys over to play. Teddy was bigger than the Malfoy boys, although not much older, so Andy was always giving Teddy's old things to Narcissa for Scorpius and Caelum; Andy didn't think the Malfoy family was even close to well off these days. But from what she said, Harry thought they were getting by.

Harry had visited Draco and the boys regularly at first. Harry was working when Draco had little Caelum Lucius, but he rushed over to St. Mungo's to see the baby the first chance he got. He remembered how anxious he was to see that baby; to see if he could recognize the other father by looking at the resulting child. Back then he had been certain the mystery would be solved the moment the baby was born. He'd foolishly assumed the kid would come out looking identical to whichever Auror had raped Draco on Halloween night.

"Does he look like anyone we know?" Harry had asked Draco eagerly.

Draco had been holding baby Caelum wrapped snuggly in a soft blue blanket. "Yes, absolutely identical I think," Draco had answered with a smile.

"To who? Who is it?"

Draco pulled back the blanket from the little face for Harry to see. "My father and me; see, he's got our blond hair and light grey eyes. It's hard to tell when they're this little, but I'm sure all of the features are Malfoy. That's why I chose Lucius for his middle name."

Harry was disappointed at the news, because he had been hoping the rapist would be obvious. Apparently they would have to wait for the results of the paternity potion.

Harry stuck around, helping Draco out with the new baby and little Scorpius, and he awaited the results of each paternity test eagerly. Vance and Aescwine had been tested first, but neither was a match for the baby. After them, they had gone through the entire list of Aurors who had had guard duty anytime remotely close to the date of conception. They even tested a few who were on good terms with Vance and Aescwine and some of their friends who weren't Aurors. It didn't seem to matter how many people they tested, because each test came back negative.

Eventually, Harry and the others investigating the case had given up. They had other cases to work and Draco was no longer being abused. The kid was on the Ministry health insurance and Draco was receiving regular support payments from the Ministry as well. Draco didn't seem to care who the other father was, just as long as he was getting that payment from the Ministry every month. So over time, the case had gradually shifted out of Auror radar.

A few months after Caelum's birth, Harry and Bourke started a new assignment. Harry was to get his first taste of undercover work and he was excited for it. Draco and the Malfoys seemed alright. The transition was gradual, so Harry didn't notice as he spent less and less time at Malfoy Manor. One of the last visits Harry had to the Manor before he was to slip completely from sight was rather disturbing. It was the first week of November and Draco had mistaken Harry for Caelum's father; for the man who had raped Draco in Ministry custody.

Draco had been doing so much better and hadn't said or done anything crazy in months. Harry had really thought Draco's break with sanity was over for good. But then Draco had said Caelum had Harry's ears of all things and asked Harry if he was pleased with their son. When Harry had rationally explained to Draco that he was Harry and not the man who had raped him, Draco freaked out. There was Draco's usual endless apologies begging Harry not to hurt him and he curled himself into a ball, like he expected someone to start abusing him at any moment. In the end, Harry had had to call in Narcissa to calm Draco down and had left.

After that, Harry thought his staying away from Draco was for the best. If Harry reminded Draco of the rapist, which seemed to be the case, then Draco was better off without Harry around to remind him of the horrible ordeal. Then the meat of Harry's undercover assignment begun and he was cut off from everybody, including Ginny and Hermione, for six months, so he couldn't have visited Malfoy even if he'd wanted to. Bourke, Ron, and Ron's senior partner were all on assignment with him, so he wasn't completely alone, but he had missed his friends and especially Ginny while he was gone.

When Harry came back, he'd reconnected with most of his old friends. He reached out to Draco, but Draco wrote back saying it wasn't a good time. Apparently Draco had a lot of work to do with his two boys, crops, and potions. It wasn't until six weeks after Harry had returned that Draco had agreed to see him. When they met, Harry offered to help Draco out with the boys; he could take Draco's two boys when he had Teddy and it really wouldn't be that big of a deal, but Draco had refused the offer. Draco seemed uncomfortable with Harry around and Harry assumed it was because of Harry's resemblance to the rapist. If that was the case, he didn't want to force his company off on Draco.

Harry had seen Draco and the boys a few more times after that, but Draco had grown moody and often didn't reply to Harry for months at a time. Harry figured Draco was busy and he knew from Andy that Draco and the kids were alright. Harry was busy too, so he found himself forgetting about the Malfoys for longer and longer periods of time. When he did remember, it had been so long since they had last seen each other, that the thought of reaching out to them seemed awkward. He even began thinking of Draco as Malfoy again, like before they had grown close.

Harry was surprised when the letter arrived this morning. It was supposed to be a typical Saturday morning and Harry had plans to relax and enjoy his day off. He had a date tonight with Ginny and this morning he was thinking about stopping by to see Neville. Harry had been full partners with Ron at work for four years now, so he saw his best mate more than enough on the job. Thus they tended to spend their downtime apart, so they would have something to talk about while at work, which was why he had the vague plans to see Neville and later definite plans with Ginny.

Harry noticed immediately that it was not Draco Malfoy who sent the letter. No, the name Auror Harry Potter was written on the addressee line in a childish scrawl that looked more like something Teddy would do than Draco. Harry set down his coffee, unfurled the scroll, and skimmed straight to the bottom where there was the messy signature of Scorpius Malfoy. Teddy was in second grade now; perhaps Scorpius was too. Harry wondered if Scorpius wrote this all by himself as his eyes moved to the top of the page.

And then Harry spit out his coffee all over the parchment, splattering the letter with brown dots. He immediately flicked his wand to salvage the letter, removing the coffee stains. After reading the second word on the page, he knew he had to read the rest of it. He set his coffee in the sink and sat back down to concentrate on the letter, reading each line multiple times before moving onto the next.

_Dear Daddy,_

_ Or do I have to call you Auror Potter, like Father does when he mentions you? I don't know, because you never come to visit us anymore. I know you did once, because Father tells us the stories about you at bedtime every night. Well sometimes Cael asks for stories about dragons, but mostly Father's stories are about you. We have the photos of you with us on the mantel on our fireplace, because they're special. When I walk by them, I wish they were portraits of you, so I could ask you why._

_ Why don't you love us anymore Daddy? Why did you leave us? Why do we only have Father and Grandmother? Why don't we have you too? Why don't you at least send Father more money for us? He's always budgeting out every payment and stretching it down to the last knut, but it's not enough. They say you're rich and famous, so why don't you share with Father? It's not nice not to share._

_ I thought until now that you must not like children. Cael is a pain and used to cry a lot, so maybe that's why you left. I would understand if it was— I'd leave Cael too if I could, but Father says that's not what big brothers do and I've gotta be a proper big brother._

_ Cael reckons that maybe we're not really yours. He says that maybe you were just Father's friend and are nice to send us the money you do give Father. But there's no way that's true, because I look just like you and my little brother's got your green eyes too. Father's always complaining that my messy black hair won't lay flat, no matter what spell he casts on it. From the pictures we have of you, I can tell that your's is the same way. I've got your nose and chin too, I think. I keep telling Cael that there's no way it's anyone else, otherwise we wouldn't all look like you and Father._

_ Sometimes Grandmother takes me and Cael with her to see my great aunt and my second cousin. She took me with her yesterday and Cael and I played with Teddy Lupin. Teddy said that you're practically a father to him. He said he lives over at your house sometimes and has got his own room and everything. Both his parents are dead and you're his Godfather, so you take care of him. I think that's nice. But why don't you take care of us too? I'm your son, so why haven't I ever been invited over to your house? I wouldn't even need my own room, because I'm used to sharing._

_ I remember when I was really little I used to ask Father why you didn't come round anymore. He's got all these stories about you, but we never see you and you barely send us anything. I asked why he didn't ask you for more money. He said that Malfoys do not beg. He said that if someone offered us something, then that was one thing, but I was not to go begging you for anything. So I'm not begging. You don't want to give us more, ok, but I just want to know why Daddy? _

_ -Love Scorpius Draco Malfoy_

_ p.s. Please don't tell Father I sent this. He doesn't know and I'm not supposed to be using his quicky quill._

Harry sat staring at the letter, re-reading it, and trying to make sense of the words for hours. Obviously Draco's son seemed to think he was the mysterious other father.

From the note on the bottom, Harry gathered that the letter was written using a quick quotes quill, but even then, it was well written for his age. Scorpius must be a very bright little boy, but was he Harry's little boy?

Harry considered the clues Scorpius had written. He'd known all along that the older boy had black hair, but he hadn't known it was like his own. There wasn't much of it when he'd first met Scorpius and when it did start growing in, Draco used to cut it regularly. It was certainly possible that Scorpius' black hair had grown in thick and messy like Harry's. Scorpius' facial features had been small and chubby in that generic baby sort of way the last time Harry had seen him; did he really have Harry's nose and chin now? Everyone always said Scorpius looked like the Black family, but might they be mistaken? Might Scorpius look like a Potter? Harry's paternal grandmother was a Black and he definitely had some of the Black features himself.

What about Caelum's eyes? Harry distinctively remembered Draco telling him the baby's eyes were grey, like Lucius' eyes. Wasn't that the reason Draco had chosen to name the baby after his father? Harry would never have named a kid after Lucius, but Caelum was Draco's kid. As the only parent, Draco was free to name the child as he pleased. Awful middle name aside, did the baby's eyes eventually change color? Did Caelum have green eyes, like Harry, now? A baby's eye color often changes, so it was possible, but why hadn't Draco ever told him? Even if Harry wasn't the father, Draco knew that Harry wanted to know things like that to track down the rapist.

Harry obviously knew he wasn't the rapist, but he had never bothered to test himself. Maybe Caelum wasn't conceived from the rape, but was somehow left over from when Voldemort created Scorpius. Harry still didn't know how the residual magic worked exactly. Although he now knew more than before, he still didn't know what was and was not possible. If Voldemort had somehow gotten hold of Harry's semen, might he have used it to create Scorpius, and Caelum a year later by means of the residual magic?

Harry had been captured and cornered by Voldemort plenty of times, but he was not aware of ever giving Voldemort a semen sample. He was Voldemort's worst enemy anyway, so why would Voldemort chose Harry to impregnate Draco? Harry had power the Dark Lord knew not, everyone knew that, and maybe Voldemort was trying to gain that power for himself? Perhaps if his son was as powerful as he was, Voldemort might try to raise his son as Voldemort's heir and thereby corrupt a power that should never have been within Voldemort's control. Maybe Voldemort had chosen Harry on purpose.

And if Harry was the father of both boys, then that explained why not one of those paternity tests ever returned a positive result, despite all of the wizards who had been tested. Between the Death Eater's tested against Scorpius and the Aurors tested again Caelum, it was unbelievable that they'd never found either boys' other father. What would happen if Harry tested himself? Might Harry have two sons?

Well two more sons, because Harry thought of Teddy as his oldest son. He wanted children of his own; Merlin, that was why he'd asked Ginny to marry him last month. They were growing older and it was time to for the two of them to get married, settle down, and have a kid of their own. Harry didn't just want to have Teddy every other weekend anymore; he wanted a family to come home to. Ginny had agreed that this would be her last year playing Quidditch with the Harpies and the pieces of the puzzle were beginning to come together for Harry.

But what if Harry had half a puzzle already? What if those two boys of Draco's were his too? He certainly wouldn't abandon them. Merlin, he couldn't remember why he'd gone so long without seeing Draco now. Even if Harry wasn't the father, those boys were obviously wanting and needing a father figure in their life. It wouldn't be that much extra work for Harry to take the two boys on weekends when he had Teddy, especially not once Ginny became a stay at home mother and they had children of their own. And Harry had plenty of money, while the Malfoys seemed to be really struggling, so Harry didn't mind equaling the Ministry's support payment for the other child; it really wasn't all that much money anyway.

That thought reminded Harry of something in the letter about Draco already receiving support payments from Harry, so he went to the top and read the whole thing one more time. Afterwards, he concluded that Scorpius definitely must think that the Ministry's support payments for Caelum were coming from Harry. Draco probably didn't want the boys to know the story of Caelum's conception, being an even worse story than Scorpius', because of the rape. Maybe Draco had lied to the boys and told them that the money came from his old friend Harry. Or maybe Draco just hadn't told them anything and Scorpius had assumed Harry was sending it, since he thought that Harry was their father.

Then the memory Draco had shown Harry of Caelum's conception came back to Harry. It had led nowhere before, since they couldn't make out the face and they strongly suspected polyjuice, but what if that wasn't what the memory showed? What if it really was just a dream that Draco's subconscious had produce of the real father, to give Draco's conscious mind a memory to grasp ahold of, to explain the second pregnancy to himself. Maybe the body looked like Harry, because Harry was the father. Maybe the face was blurry, because Harry wasn't really there. Maybe no one had raped Draco that night.

Harry knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Draco had been raped by Aescwine, because of the legilimency testimony and because of Aescwine's confession. But Draco had always maintained that Aescwine hadn't raped him that night and that on Halloween, there was another man there with him. The negative paternity test had backed up Draco's claim, but maybe Draco was wrong. Maybe there was no one physically there with Draco that night. That certainly explained why Draco didn't fight off the man, even though Draco looked like he could have; if the man wasn't really there, then he couldn't have been hurting Draco the way Harry had always imagined had went along with that memory. Could Caelum have the same father as Scorpius? Might Draco gave dreamed about the one man when the residual magic had come back to him and gotten him pregnant the second time?

Even if Harry wasn't the father of either boy, it would still explain why Scorpius had black hair and Draco believed the blond Caelum's father to also have black hair. Maybe Scorpius got their second father's black hair, while Caelum got their second father's green eyes.

That was all just a pile of speculation. Harry knew of only one way to determine what really happened and that was the paternity potion. He couldn't just show up and order Draco to surrender a hair sample from himself and each of the children, so Harry would have to pay Draco a visit and convince Draco to go along with one more test. And while Harry is there, he had some questions about this letter for Draco to answer.

* * *

Author's note: I have a big surprise in store for Harry at Malfoy Manor :)

On another note, what direction do you all prefer for Harry's love life? Right now he's with Ginny, but I have a break-up planned. Right now it's open, but would you have him end up with Ginny, Draco, or someone else?

Please Review!


	5. Chapter 5

Draco Malfoy was outside in the field tending the crops with his wand when Harry Potter apparated to the outskirts of the Malfoy Manor grounds. Harry had been planning to knock on the front door, but he saw Draco working as he approached and thus deviated in the direction of the field.

It was a large field on the side of the Manor, but it was late fall and most of the crops had already come in. Most of the field was barren and dead looking, but Draco had a warming charm on a small plot of it and seemed to have a winter crop coming along. Between the winter crop and the full sized field clearly used during the normal growing season, it looked large enough to feed an entire family of four for a year and have plenty to sell. Harry knew Draco lived here with his mother and two boys, since Lucius was still in Azkaban, so that made just the four of them.

As Harry walked, he took the field in and began to think the stories about the Malfoy family evading their taxes might just be true after all. The Malfoy coffers had been confiscated by the ministry for war reparations and half the wizarding population thought the Malfoys must have had a secret stash hidden away somewhere. But Harry had seen the Manor after the Ministry raid and didn't think a single knut had been missed. And Harry knew that Draco had the two children and no job, so he always took Draco's side when tax time came around. Tax reports were confidential, but someone always leaked the fact that every year since the war the Malfoys managed to be in the very bottom tax bracket. That always led to rumors of tax evasion and hence Harry's yearly defense of the Malfoy family.

Just as Harry was beginning to think Draco was pulling one over on the Ministry by not reporting the sale of crops, he noticed that the large lump on Draco's hip was in fact a baby. When had Draco had another baby? The Malfoys were never in the paper these days, but Andromeda Tonks was in touch with her sister Narcissa Malfoy and Andy hadn't mentioned anything. Harry didn't even know Draco was seeing someone. Last Andy had said, Draco was too scarred over the rape in Ministry custody to date. If Draco was seeing someone, then he must have finally gotten over it.

Harry was starting to hope that Draco's life was looking up when he grew close enough to hear the sound of laughter and the excited squeal of children. He turned his head in the direction of the noise and discovered a little clearing by the side of the building that contained what appeared to be three young children. The tallest of the three looked like he wouldn't make it to Harry's waist, so he knew all three were quite young; too young to be Draco's first two. The youngest of the three was toddling along behind the other two, barely stable on his or her wobbly feet.

There were four young children in all that Harry had never heard mention of. That combined with Draco's older two children and it was no wonder Draco needed such a large plot of land to feed his family. Why hadn't Scorpius mentioned the new children in his letter? Why hadn't Draco ever said anything? Had Scorpius thought that Harry wouldn't want him and Caelum if he knew Draco had moved on and found someone else? That certainly wasn't the case, because he and Draco were never romantically involved, but Scorpius wouldn't know that if he thought Harry was his dad.

Harry was quite close when Draco finally noticed his approach. Draco finished strengthening the warming charm on the plants, angled down his wand, and looked up at Harry. Draco's face was blank for a moment, before he settled on an anxious expression.

"What is it? My father's not ill, is he? It must be bad if they've sent you Potter," Draco said.

"No, he's not ill," Harry replied, stopping a few feet in front of Draco.

"You're not here to deny my request to bring all of the children to visit him for the holidays, are you? I know you lot warned me last year about showing up with so many children, but we're only allowed to see him twice a year. It's Christmas; the children want to see their grandfather and he wants to see them. Besides I don't have anyone to watch the baby; my mother needs to go with us.

"It's nothing to do with Lucius," Harry replied.

"Then what is it? I haven't done any of those things people are always accusing me of. Salazar knows I still get so much hate mail that I hardly have to bother chopping down trees for the fire. Everybody has got their opinion on what the Malfoy family is up to these days, haven't they? Only that boss of yours normally doesn't take them so seriously. He just sends me an owl with the accusation and I reply back with my denial. Do they have some evidence against me this time, or something? It's not something really bad, is it?"

"No, Draco, just stop. I'm not here on Ministry business."

"Oh, is that so? Then why are you here? You haven't stopped by to check on us since Cael was a baby."

There was a bit of accusation in Draco's words. Harry began to wonder if perhaps he should have kept checking on the Malfoy family. Draco certainly seemed to have his hands full with six children and no job. They had probably gone through their share of hard times in all of these years. And from the way Draco was talking about not having a sitter for his biannual visits to his father in Azkaban, it didn't sound like his boyfriend or girlfriend was around. Harry still didn't know for sure if Draco was gay or straight, but either way, the witch or wizard seemed to have split.

"Because of this," Harry said, reaching into the breast pocket of his robes. He pulled out Scorpius' letter.

"What is that? The accusation of wrong doing?"

"No, it's a letter from your son Scorpius."

"Scorp sent you a letter?" Draco asked skeptically. Harry nodded. "He's always been a big Harry Potter fan; all of the kids are. I suppose it's a bit of fan mail he's gone and written you. Why are you here then? Don't you get that sort of stuff all of the time?"

"No, not this sort of thing. Actually I've never gotten a letter like this before, Draco."

"What did he write? I can't imagine what would have you showing up on my door like this, Potter."

"Draco, it says he wants me to be his dad."

"What!?" Draco exclaimed.

Three little children came running over. The baby in Draco's arms looked up with large watery green eyes, before letting out a startled wail. Maybe Caelum wasn't the little green eyed brother Scorpius referred to in the letter. As Harry took in the sight of the four children up close, he could see the resemblance between them and himself, especially the second tallest.

"Sshh, sorry Carina, Father didn't mean to shout. Calm down sweetie," Draco cooed at the baby on his hip.

"Father?" the oldest asked. He looked from Draco to Harry, back to Draco, and finally settled his gaze on Harry. Now that he was closer, Harry knew it was a boy. He had a short crop of messy black hair and a pair of big blue eyes. He wore dusty threadbare trousers that were patched at the knees and a stained shirt that was patched at the elbows. The boy's face was spotless and looked in much better shape than the clothes, so Draco was obviously trying to keep him clean.

Behind the boy was a girl who was half a foot shorter than her brother. She wore a dingy dress that was in better shape than what any of the other three children were wearing, but was still quite clearly old and very well worn. She had shoulder length black hair, far longer than that of the other children. She looked very well cared for and her hair glistened as it fell in loose ringlets around her chubby cheeks that so closely resembled the few baby pictures Harry had of himself. She stared at Harry with a large pair of bright green eyes, just like the baby in Draco's arms.

The little one came toddling up behind the older two and peered out at Harry with a second pair of blue eyes. Harry guessed the little blond one was also a boy, because of the short cropped hair and the trousers, but he was so small it was hard to tell. The trousers might just have been handed down from three older brothers; they certainly had enough patches and stains to have gone through four children. This child was the messiest of the four, having grass stains all over himself and even some grass in his golden hair and a dirt smudge on his cheek.

"Everything is fine Cyg. This is just an old friend from school. Harry, I'd like you to meet my sons Cygnus Vincent Malfoy and Aries Serpens Malfoy." Draco pointed to the oldest boy and then the little blond toddler. "And these are my daughters Cassiopeia Druella Malfoy and Carina Delphinus Malfoy." This time Draco pointed to the young girl and then the baby in his arms. "Children, this is Auror Harry Potter."

Cygnus let out a gasp of surprise and his jaw dropped, but the other children didn't recognize the name.

"Hi," Harry said and gave the children a wave.

"Hi," little Aries replied back right away.

"Nita meechu," the girl in the middle said; the really clean one who looked just like Harry.

"It's nice to meet you, Cassy," Draco corrected and Cassy nodded. "Cyg? What do we say when we are introduced to someone?"

"It's Harry Potter!" Cyg replied in an excited voice.

"Yes Cyg, it is Harry Potter, but you are being very rude to him. Tell him hello at least."

"Sorry Father. Hullo Harry Potter. How do you do?" Cyg asked, extending his hand out to shake.

Harry took it and shook hands with the little boy.

"Very good Cyg. Father needs to talk to Auror Potter, so you take Cassy and Aries back over to play now."

"But Father, it's Harry Potter," Cyg protested, pointing in Harry's direction.

"Yes it is. If you are good you can go inside and tell your older brothers and sister that you met him. But if you keep pointing and gaping like that, Cassy will tell them while you are on a time out."

Cyg lowered his finger and his head at the same time. "Yes Father."

"Now go; you know Cassy and Aries look up to you."

"Yes Father," Cyg said and slowly trudged back over to the grass lawn.

Cassy and Aries followed their brother, both apparently unaware what the big deal was about Harry Potter.

"Look Draco, I know you're busy, but I'd like to get this squared away. I didn't realize you had more kids now. Did you get married?" Harry was still hoping that the other parent hadn't really abandoned Draco and that it only looked that way.

Draco sighed before answering. "No. Who would want me with eight children?"

"Eight? I thought six."

"The oldest four are inside with my mother doing their lessons."

"On a Saturday?"

"She took the oldest two to my Aunt Andy's on Thursday, so they need to make up the missed day."

Teddy's private school had the day off Thursday for parent teacher conferences. Harry had gone to his conference in the morning before work, while Andy had Teddy home for the day. Teddy had been bouncing off the walls with excitement when Andy told him his Malfoy cousins were coming over to play.

"Oh. Well if you don't mind my asking…If you didn't marry, then um, where did they come from? You must be seeing someone or were seeing someone. Look Draco, whoever it is, if they don't want to make support payments and left you with all of these kids, then I can track him or her down and make them. Normally I don't handle support cases, but once I know who it is, I can turn it over to the Ministry officials who do."

Draco sighed again, obviously not wanting to discuss this subject. "If you must know Potter, I have continued to end up mysteriously pregnant every year. After Scorpius and Caelum came Abraxas and Lyra, before Cygnus over there. And no, I don't have a second father for any of them."

Well that certainly changed things. Eight children and not a known father for one? This had to be a record, but it also explained the part in the letter when Scorpius wrote that they _all_ looked like Harry. Harry knew Caelum didn't look like him and he hadn't thought Scorpius looked _that_ much like him. But if there were another six Malfoy children who all looked like him, then maybe Scorpius had it right. Maybe Voldemort really had used Harry's seed for his heir, to gain the power Voldemort had not. Only Voldemort could be idiotic enough not to realize that the power was nothing more than love and any child was capable of giving that; it was in the nature of children to love.

"They look like me. Half have green eyes and half black hair," Harry stated.

"Now just a minute Potter! I don't know what makes you think you can come in here and claim one of my children, just because you're the famous Harry Potter! I may not have much money and way more children than I can afford, but I won't give up one of them. I don't care what Scorpius wrote about wanting you to adopt him or whatever it was he wrote. It's just a child's fantasy, I'm sure. His life may be hard with so many younger brothers and sisters, but we make do. I've got clothes on all their backs and food for their tummies. I won't go handing any of them off, even to you. I suppose your fiancé cannot have children or something, so you want one of mine. You think I've got one to spare, have you? Well I-"

Harry cut Draco off. "Whoa, wait, no. Who said anything about taking them away from you? I think you've done splendid with them; really I do. It's absolutely incredible that you're taking care of eight of them with no one but your mum. Ginny and I haven't even tried for kids yet, but when we do, I know there's no way I could do so well with so many."

Draco's face softened and a look of confusion replaced his scowl. "Then why are you here?"

"Um, look, urgh." Harry flapped the letter in his hand around as he tried to decide where to begin. "Ah, why don't you just read what he wrote me?" Harry asked, holding out the parchment.

Draco snatched the letter from Harry and unfurled it. The baby reached out and grabbed the end of the parchment, pulling it towards her little mouth. Draco pulled the parchment away with one hand and moved the baby further back with the other. The baby fussed and Draco looked up at Harry, who was waiting and watching Draco curiously.

"Here, can you take Carina for a minute?" Draco asked.

"Yeah, sure," Harry replied, taking the baby once Draco offered. Baby Carina's head was covered with a hat, but a few blond wisps peeked out and were caught by the wind. Harry tucked the hairs back inside the hat.

Draco conjured a stuffed armchair right there in the field in between rows of plants and sat down to read. Harry held Carina and bounced her up and down like he did with his nieces and nephews. Harry wasn't married to Ginny yet, but he still considered all of the Weasley children his nieces and nephews. There were a lot of them now and he'd had Teddy too, so he knew how to entertain a baby for a bit; he could manage just as long as he wasn't left alone with one for too long.

Draco turned a ghostly white as he read the letter and pulled out a chilled flask from his breast pocket. Harry eyed Draco suspiciously, thinking Draco was carrying around liquor while he was supposed to be tending to four very young children.

"Iced tea; it gets hot working out in the fields," Draco explained.

"Right…" Harry drawled, unconvinced.

"Harry, I haven't had a drink since I was seventeen. I've been pregnant or breast feeding constantly since then. It gets hot out here and I tend to get dehydrated, so my elf always gives me a flask of iced tea to take with me."

"Alright. You read the letter then?"

"Yes. I honestly had no idea he was writing you, let alone writing you something like this. I didn't put these ideas inside his head, I swear."

"You didn't tell him that I'm his father?"

"No, I did not."

"Then how'd he get this idea?"

"A childish fantasy I suppose. We all have them, haven't we? I myself often wish I had a second parent for these kids. I get twenty galleons support a month from the Ministry for Caelum. It would be nice to get that for each of eight children, not to mention someone to keep an eye on them every once in a while. Merlin knows I could really use the help Harry, but I won't lie to you; I don't think you're the missing father."

"Then who is? If not me, then who? He's right; they do look like me."

"I don't know. If I knew that, I'd have this curse lifted long ago and be collecting decent support payments."

Rituals could be broken if all of the original participants were gathered and willingly agreed to break the spell. If someone vital to the ritual died, it would automatically break, which meant the second father was still alive. If Draco could find him, then they would be able to lift the enchantment and he'd stop getting pregnant every year.

"I know the Ministry did extensive testing on Caelum and it wasn't any of the Aurors listed as being on guard duty, but surely you must have thought about this a lot in the intervening years. These kids must have come from someone; who do you think it could be?"

"You don't want to know what I think."

"Yes, I do. I know you said Voldemort did this to you, but the paternity test on Scorpius and Caelum both came back negative for Voldemort. He must have messed up the ritual somehow and the children came out as someone else's instead. Why haven't we ever found him? If it's still happening, then he's still alive. Why not me? Voldemort and I were bound exceedingly tightly while he lived. He had my blood flowing in his veins and I had a piece of his soul lodged inside my head. I had a power he wanted; one that he knew not, but probably thought he could gain by stealing my child away from me. Or what if he drew on the blood he took from me and that somehow made them mine? You have to admit these four look just like me; far more than the first two did. Just look at Carina's green eyes and tell me she doesn't look like me? Cassy over there looks even more like me with all that black hair of hers."

"Swear to me you will never tell this to another being Harry."

"What? Why?"

"I don't want this getting back to my children. I don't want them knowing who they came from."

"You think it's a Death Eater then?"

Draco didn't reply, but Harry knew the answer was something like that. "Alright, I swear. My lips are sealed," Harry promised.

"The Dark Lord had black hair too, Potter, and green eyes aren't all that rare. My Grandmother Black has green eyes; they're common in the Rosier family."

"You can't still think it was him, can you? Not after those tests."

"The test didn't give me the name of anyone else. My mother and father saw the Dark Lord before he changed and they both agree that the children look like they could be his. I think somehow the test came out wrong. Maybe because his body was too corrupted in the end, being made from bits of all those different people…I think he really is the father and the potion couldn't recognize that foul body as being related to my perfect children."

Harry honestly considered the possibility again, despite having so thoroughly ruled it out. But, if it had been Voldemort, the ritual wouldn't still be holding seven plus years later, not with Voldemort dead. "I saw Voldemort too, before he changed. He had dark eyes. Do any of your children have dark eyes? I've only seen grey, blue, and green," Harry said.

"No, but just because none of them have his eyes, doesn't disprove it. None of them have red slit eyes or talk to snakes either, but that's just because they take after me."

"You can't honestly want Voldemort's children, can you? I know you don't worship him like your father did."

"I don't. I can't stand him."

"Then why did you let yourself have eight of these children if you honestly think they are his? He's a monster."

"He is, but he's never even seen any of them. They won't be like him."

"Draco? You're evading the question. I know you couldn't reverse the spell without the father, but you could have done something! You could've ripped out your uterus; that would've stopped these pregnancies, wouldn't it? Once the chain is broken, you'd have to take the potion again to restart it. Then when you don't take the potion, you won't get pregnant even at the peak of the residual magic."

Draco sighed and looked from Harry to his three children playing on the grass. Cyg and Cassy were once more running around in circles. Aries was plopped on his bottom pulling up blades of grass.

"Draco, have you even tried to stop it?"

Draco shook his head.

"Why not? Even if they can't stop you from getting pregnant once a year, you could have it aborted." Harry's voice came out in a whisper, as if he didn't want the children to hear him; he was still holding baby Carina. "Once you stop breast feeding, the cycle will be broken."

Draco was silent such a long time that Harry asked again, "Draco? Why have you given birth to eight kids you think belong to Voldemort?"

Draco looked at Harry for a few minutes more, before sighing and answering, "We think it's our punishment, alright? My mother and father and I've agreed that these children are karma's way of paying us back for all the wrong we have done as a family. I mean, look at me, I have more children than the Weasleys and I'm pregnant again! After all of those times I made fun of them… But at least they had two parents and one steady income; I haven't even got that and this baby will make nine. Merlin, most of their clothes are hand-me-downs from Teddy and the Weasley kids that my Aunt Andromeda sends my mother. It's a fitting punishment, isn't it, to be landed in a worse situation than one we so scathingly mocked?"

"You're pregnant again?" Harry asked stunned. Somehow, that was the one thing in Draco's exclamation that rang in his ears.

Draco nodded. "A few weeks now. It happened just the same as I testified with Caelum."

"What was that again? Sorry, it's been so long."

"A black haired man on Halloween night; I can never see his face."

"It's always Halloween?" Harry asked.

"Yes, does that mean something to you?"

"Well yes, it's the night Voldemort first tried to kill me. It's the night he killed my parents and forever joined our destinies."

"And you think because of that, it makes you somehow…" Draco trailed off.

"I don't know exactly why or how if it did happen, but it doesn't hurt to do the test."

"Maybe for you, it doesn't, but I can't afford the ingredients and I don't have time to make eight doses of the potion. I've got to make teething potion next, then it will be pepper up. We're always running low on headache cures and fever reducers too."

"I'll buy the ingredients and I'll brew it," Harry said and Draco's eyebrows rose in skepticism. "I'm a decent brewer now; I've got to be with my job as an Auror."

"Right, because there are just so many times when you are chasing after a dark wizard and you need to brew a potion to catch him."

"You'd be surprised."

"Try me."

"There was this one time we were chasing this dark wizard who was brewing these horrible potions. Every time we got near him, he'd lob a vial of the stuff at our heads! We'd have to scramble and set up an antidote potion before one of our own died and then go after him again. And we couldn't take the victim to St. Mungo's, or risk blowing our location, so we had to brew ourselves. Only he had a whole stock pile of hundreds of different poisonous potions and we never knew which one we were going to get hit with next. Ron got hit with this-"

Draco interrupted. "Alright, fine, I believe you. It won't harm me to give you a few hairs for your test. It's not like I have to drink the stuff."

"Great! Um, here's your kid. I'll owl you when it's ready." Harry handed Carina back to Draco.

"You do that."

"Draco, can I ask you something more before I go?"

"You might as well, since you seem to be convinced I'm magically pregnant by you, even though we've never done anything like that."

"Why didn't I know you had all of these children? I just saw your aunt last weekend and she never said anything. And in Scorpius' letter too, he never mentioned that there were another six kids to explain. I'd assumed he was writing only about him and Cael."

"If you must know, I didn't want anyone to know. It's embarrassing, alright?" Draco had little left to him, but he still had his pride.

"What? So no one knows, not even your aunt?"

"No, she doesn't know. Mother, Scorpius, and Cael know not to mention that when they go out. Sometimes they slip and mention one of the others, but Mother passes the other names off as being my old school friends' kids. That's who she says most of the used clothes and toys are for, so I don't have to admit I have more kids than I can afford. If I can't have the life I envisioned for myself, I can at least let people think I do."

"So what, you never take the younger six out? You never let yourself be seen pregnant either?"

"Now don't look like I'm locking them away like some monster! I never leave, period, unless it's to visit my father. And the younger six are too little to go out with my mother without me; she's old and they're far too much work for her. People will find out eventually, but why they are still young, I'd rather everyone didn't know my business."

"So when Cael was a baby and you stopped responding to my letters for months?"

"I was pregnant with Abraxas, yes, and I didn't want you to know it was happening again. In hindsight, I would have let you in and told you, just for some extra help. But I didn't know then that it would keep happening and I'd end up with eight and a ninth on the way; I'm still naive enough to hope every Halloween that this is the year the enchantment breaks, the year

I don't get visited by the faceless raven-haired wizard, and the year I'm finally not pregnant. Back when it was only three children, my mother and I could take care of them by ourselves and the situation wasn't nearly as tight."

"Thank you for telling me that; I appreciate your honesty. And Draco, I want to help you. Even if they aren't mine, I still want to help."

"There was a time when I would say I didn't need your charity, Harry, but having eight pairs of eyes look up at me with need, I will gladly take whatever I can get."

After the rape, Draco had been broken, but in some ways his current situation was worse. He'd failed his children and was continuing to fail them; it was enough to shatter him. His pride, the only thing he had left besides the Manor, had a gaping chasm torn into it when it came to his children. He still couldn't bring himself to beg or even ask for help, but he'd take it once offered.

"What do you need? Food, clothes, nappies?" Harry asked.

"Clothes mostly, but toys and potions ingredients too. I replicate each toy they get a dozen times or more, but they break or blow up so quickly. And the little ones can never keep track of anything."

"What sizes for the clothes?"

"One of each. Whatever you do, please treat them all equally. I can't afford to buy the rest whatever you buy one."

"Alright. What toys do they already have? Brooms and bikes, I bet."

"No."

"No? Andy said she bought bikes for your boys a few years back."

"Long since too small for Scorp and Cael; they're used by Brax and Ly now, but they're in horrible shape."

"Right…what do they like?"

"Whenever my mother and I buy toys, we always get things they can play together or all use, like books, blocks, and balls. And Ly is really into dolls, so I get her a doll every year."

"So none of that then," Harry replied. Draco raised an eyebrow questioningly and Harry hastened to explain himself. "I don't want to get them ordinary gifts now, do I? You heard Cyg, I'm Harry Potter. I've got to get them something fun, like finger paint and drum sets." Teddy always loved when he gave his godson something really loud or messy.

"Only if you're taking them to your place to use them," Draco warned.

"Come on, what's a little paint going to harm?"

"Scorp had a paint set once; Brax ate quite a bit of it."

"Brat?" Harry asked.

"No, Brax. It's short for Abraxas."

"Right, so no paint. Oh I know; Teddy had this little toy piano he used to love when he was little."

"Harry, I have eight of them; the noise that would create would require an entire vat of headache tonic."

"Oh…so I'll just have to get a vat of headache tonic to go along with the toys," Harry replied with a smirk.

* * *

Author's Note: Drarry won, hands down! This still won't be a romance, but will slowly build towards a Drarry pairing. We'll see Ginny in the next chapter…Harry is going to start trying to make things right both with Ginny and for the children.

Did the extra six kids surprise you? I had to really scrape the name barrel with this story, along with using every hair and eye color combination. I thought about not having so many kids, but I wanted Scorpius to be old enough to write that letter and with the nature of the curse, there has to be a new child each year.


	6. Chapter 6

The first thing Harry did when he left Malfoy Manor was head straight to the apothecary and purchase enough ingredients to make an entire vat of paternity potion. His fame had died down since the war, not entirely mind you, but enough that he could be seen in the wizarding world without inciting a mob to swarm him and ask for pictures and autographs. Therefore he was able to apparate in and out quickly and return to Grimmauld Place to start brewing.

Harry finished the first step in the paternity potion just an hour before Ginny was due home. He left the potion with an auto-stir charm on and went to owl Ron and Hermione. He asked his friends to come over, because he had news to tell and his date night with Ginny would have to be canceled, or at least pushed back. Ginny was understanding though, so he was sure she'd be okay with it, given the enormity of the crisis that had come up today.

This morning had started out as such a normal day until Harry had received Scorpius' letter. Even after he'd digested the alarming news, he still thought everything would turn out fine, because he had only known about Malfoy's oldest two kids. Even if he'd really had two kids plus Teddy, that still only made three kids. With his wealth, he could support all three boys, marry Ginny, and still afford to have a child of their own. But Malfoy had eight and a half kids, not two, and with Teddy, that would soon make _ten_ kids. He had no right to marry anyone, let alone have more children, when he already had ten kids.

Harry was relieved when Hermione flooed straight over without Ron, because it gave him a chance to explain things to her, before he told Ron and Ginny. He really needed some advice on how much to tell them. He was going to start helping Malfoy out regardless, but should he tell Ginny about the eight and a half kids? Should he postpone the wedding, pending the paternity results? It would take him a month to brew and the wedding wasn't to be until next year, but he didn't see how he could concentrate on planning anything right now when he needed to put all of his effort into figuring out how to stop Malfoy from getting pregnant every year.

And so Harry and Hermione sat at the wooden table in the kitchen of Grimmauld Place and talked. Harry clutched a steaming mug of tea as he showed Hermione the letter and revealed what he had learned from his visit to Malfoy Manor.

"So what should I do?" Harry asked Hermione.

"Well you'll have to sort this out first, naturally. You can't start planning a wedding with Ginny before you know. Blimey Harry, you didn't even make it inside their house; you've no idea, really, how much they need. You could get inside and find they need absolutely _everything_, times nine. If that's the case, you won't be able to afford to have the wedding next year."

"First, I don't think that's the case. Their clothes were rags, but they looked like Draco was trying _really_ hard. I bet when I get inside he's got a line of beds in each room. I know they all need new clothes and he made it sound like their toys were all no good, but as long as he's got the basics, it won't be too hard to fill in the wardrobe and buy a few hundred galleons worth of toys. I'm thinking a playground set, definitely, for Christmas."

"Alright, but what if they're yours? They'll be off to Hogwarts before you know it and you'll have to have them all living at the same level as yourself; it would be wrong to ask your children to live lower than you."

"I know. I was wondering if I could even go through with marrying Ginny if that's the case. We've talked about having kids soon and I can't rightfully have one with Ginny, if I've got nine with Malfoy and Teddy. And we haven't even broken the ritual or figured out how Voldemort did it yet…"

"Harry, you're getting ahead of yourself. We won't be able to come up with a way to break the ritual until after we know if they are yours or not. If they are, it should be simple enough to break it with a counter ritual. If they aren't, then it will be much more challenging and we'll deal with that when it comes. As for how Voldemort did it, we don't know if he _did_ do it. If the children aren't yours, then we don't have to answer that question. Now just take a sip of tea, breathe, and relax a minute. We need to think."

Harry did as instructed. "You're right, thanks Hermione," he said slightly more calmly.

"Now as for Ginny wanting children, I honestly always thought she only wanted them because you wanted them. I think it's possible that once she knows you've got more than enough, she'll be fine with not having any of her own."

"Really? You thought that? I always thought it was the opposite and she really wanted them."

"I know she likes them, yes, but she's told me several times now that she's not looking forward to having to give up her career for them. This way, she won't have to."

"So you think I should tell her then? I'd hate to keep secrets from her and Ron, but it is a _lot_ to take in."

"No, I don't think you should tell her all of it. Tell her you got a letter from Scorpius, but for Merlin's sake Harry, don't let her read it. It sounds like the boy knows you and Draco have been having this illicit affair for years. And nine kids? That's a bit much without mentioning that you think they're yours. It's enough to tell her how bad off the Malfoys are and that Draco and the kids really need your help. She'll understand pushing back the wedding planning for a month until you can brew the paternity potion. That way, if all this worry turns out to be for naught, you never have to deal with telling her. If they are yours, then she'll have had a month to absorb the news that there are nine of them. The added tidbit that they're yours will go down much more smoothly."

"The paternity potion Hermione! Ginny lives with me and it takes a month to brew; she's bound to notice and ask questions! And she'll be here within ten minutes! What am I going to do? You have to help me hide it!"

"Calm down Harry; tell her you're brewing it for Malfoy. You're reopening the case in your spare time, to try to find out who the father is. You've tracked down new Death Eater suspects, hence you need the potion. If you find the father, then you can stop the ritual and make the bastard pay child support every month."

"But we've rounded up all of the Death Eaters!"

"What about the baby Death Eaters, like Malfoy. Say you think it's someone our age and you want to test all of Malfoy's friends."

"Right, good thinking Hermione," Harry said. "Thank you so much for helping me sort this out; you're a life savior."

So Harry didn't tell Ginny and Ron that night about the possibility that he was the father. Ron couldn't be told, because as Ginny's brother, he was loyal to her. Harry didn't want to put Ron in a situation where he had to choose between his sister and his best mate, so Harry decided to wait on telling Ron until he told Ginny; until he knew for certain.

Ginny and Ron agreed that they needed to help Draco.

Ron promised to help Harry track down more potential fathers and test every wizard in the magical world, if it came to that. "No one, not even Malfoy, deserves to pop out another Death Eater spawn every year without control of it," Ron said.

Ginny agreed to help with putting together toys and clothes for the children. Molly would make them all sweaters, of course, and Ginny would hit up her sister-in-laws and various cousins for fresh hand-me-downs from their kids. Ginny knew all of the best second hand shops and anything they didn't have to buy new, meant more they could buy. Nine wardrobes were bound to be expensive, even with used pajamas, underpants, and play clothes.

Harry did want to get each child several brand new outfits, so that they'd have something new for once, but no one was going to see pajamas and play clothes, so they didn't matter. He remembered how it felt to always have to wear Dudley's old clothes and never have anything new for himself, so he was not about to build their entire wardrobes with hand-me-downs. Besides, if he wanted Draco to come out to the wizarding world with the children, Harry would have to buy the kids clothes befitting a Malfoy; at least one really nice set of dress robes.

Hermione, for her part, agreed to research male pregnancy rituals and see if she could find a way to reverse it. She didn't, however, mention that she would be researching both the possibility that they knew the second father and that they didn't.

Harry would fund the operation, brew the potion, and try to narrow down the list of candidates. He didn't tell Ginny, but he was also planning on buying a new bicycle for each child and taking the gifts over to Malfoy Manor. He wanted to meet the older four children, see what the inside of the house was like, and help Draco out a bit. He was certain that even if it was only for a few hours, Draco and or Narcissa could use a break. And next weekend he had Teddy anyway, so it was the perfect time to stop by.

Between his usual Auror duties and brewing the potion in his spare time, Harry kept busy during the week. Before he knew it, it was Saturday morning and he was picking Teddy up from Andy's place. He hadn't had a chance to buy the gifts, so he took Teddy to the toy store to help him.

"Now Teddy, remember, we're here to buy toys for children that are far less fortunate than yourself, not for you. We need to find bikes that Scorpius, Caelum, and their three little brothers and two little sisters will like," Harry reminded Teddy as they approached the store.

"And the baby too; we can't forget the baby and only get bikes for the big kids," Teddy said importantly.

"You're right, but we can't get the baby a bike. We'll have to find a rocking horse or something else for a baby." Come to think of it, Harry didn't even know if Carina was old enough for a rocking horse. Perhaps an infant swing would be better.

Teddy was really good about picking out the toys for the other kids; Harry was surprised that Teddy didn't seem to be jealous at all. But then Teddy had been so shocked when Harry had first picked the boy up and explained the situation. Teddy was friends with Scorpius and Caelum and he never imagined they were hiding all those little brothers and sisters.

"Scorp and Cael are sooooo lucky," Teddy said as they went to the check-out counter with five bicycles, two tricycles, and a large baby toy. It was a muggle store and the muggles were giving them strange looks, but Harry didn't want to be seen buying so many bikes in the wizarding world, because he didn't want to explain who they were for.

"Now remember Teddy, I told you they aren't lucky, because they're really poor right now," Harry explained.

"I know, but Harry, they got all those brothers and sisters to play with whenever they want! I wish I had a brother. I thought Scorp had it good getting' Cael around before, but now he's got another six kids to play with and I'm stuck an only child." Teddy let out a put upon sigh, like he had it bad.

"If you had seven little brothers and sisters you'd wish to be an only child like you."

"I doub' it. I'd much rather have the friends! And they're littler, so they got to look up to him and do what he says! He gets to be the boss. I never get to be the boss of anyone."

"Tell you what Teddy, if you're good today and help out, then I'll see about bringing you back to the Manor every two weeks to play with them for a few hours. But that means that no matter how bad they turn out to have it, even if they're sleeping on the floor and dressed in rags, you can't make them feel bad about it."

"You really think it's that bad? Great Aunt Cissy's so nice; I don't think she treats them like that, Harry."

"I know she's nice, but they really have no money. I don't think it'll be that bad, but I don't think they'll have any toys. Your Cousin Draco had four kids with him when I saw him and not one had a single toy, not even the baby."

"Right, but we're bringin' these toys, so they'll be happy." Teddy smiled brightly, clearly pleased that he was helping other kids.

"But whatever they don't have, I don't want you to mention it. No, 'How come you don't have a broom?' or 'Why do your clothes look so old?' Got it?"

"But we're bringin' them all new clothes! You said we've got that bag Ginny made. They can wear their new stuff, can't they?"

Harry couldn't remember the last time he was this proud of Teddy. Teddy was a good kid and Harry was glad they'd raised him to be so caring towards other people. And Teddy really only ever saw Scorpius and Caelum a few times a year!

"That's a great idea Teddy; they can change when we get there," Harry agreed.

"And then we get to all ride bikes together. We're bringin' my bike, aren't we?"

"Excuse me sir, do you want the warrantees on any of your purchases? You can buy a warrantee for only an extra ten pounds," the muggle sales lady interrupted.

Harry was rather certain that Draco wouldn't know what a warrantee was or know how to get back to this muggle store, even if Harry told him. And Draco and Narcissa both had wands, so there was no need for one.

"No thank you, mam," Harry replied, before turning back to his godson. "Yes Teddy, I've got it with the clothes ready to go. But you know Scorpius and Caelum haven't had bikes in years, so they probably won't know how to ride them. I don't want you making them feel jealous by mentioning that you've had yours all along and I definitely don't want you bringing up that new broomstick I got you for your birthday last year."

"They rode my broomstick! Last week, when they came with Great Aunt Cissy!"

"Shhs, not so loud around the muggles Teddy. And alright, you can mention it if they bring it up."

"Why would they be jea'ous of my old bike, when they all get these great new ones?"

"Because you've had one all along and know how to ride it. They haven't."

Teddy rolled his eyes, as if to complain about grown-ups.

The muggle cashier wanted Harry's attention again, so he turned away from Teddy to settle his bill. A young muggle stock boy loaded the bikes up onto a large palette for Harry and pushed them out to Harry's car in the parking lot. It wasn't really Harry's car, but he'd borrowed it from a friend at work this morning for the occasion. His friend had three children, hence the need for a car to transport them all. It was only a four door sedan with an average sized trunk, so there was no way the bikes would all fit without magic, but it was better than a broom and the only one he could get.

The stock boy looked at Harry strangely and said, "All this isn't gonna fit in that tiny trunk, innit?"

"No trouble, I think I can manage. My girlfriend should be by any minute now with her truck; she'll get whatever doesn't fit and I'll return the pallet inside when I'm done," Harry lied.

The muggle shrugged and trudged back inside the store, leaving Harry to shrink the bikes and stuff them all in the trunk. It wasn't long before they were on their way back to Grimmauld Place. From there they grabbed Teddy's bike and the bag full of used clothes and flooed over to Malfoy Manor.

Harry, laden with shrunken gifts, stepped out of the floo into a purple room with diamond paneled windows, which was teaming with children. Teddy followed behind Harry, carrying the rest of the gifts.

"Wow!" Teddy exclaimed, looking at all of the children running back and forth.

Besides the children, the large Malfoy drawing room was quite as empty as Harry had last seen it. He'd thought for sure Draco and Narcissa would have gotten all new furniture by now, but they apparently hadn't, for this room at least. And Harry had to admit, it made a good place to play tag the way it was, without the furniture. There was probably furniture upstairs.

All at once, the five oldest Malfoy children stopped running and screaming. They paused and stared at Harry and Teddy in the floo.

"It's Harry Potter! I's tol' ya!" little Cygnus exclaimed, pointing at Harry. Cygnus was the youngest in this group, because the youngest three Malfoy children and the two Malfoy adults were nowhere in sight.

"What's going on? Why is it so quiet in here? I know you are up to something when you are quiet," Narcissa's voice called. And then a few seconds later, Narcissa stepped through the doorway with little Aries in her arms and young Cassy at her heals. "Harry, Teddy we weren't expecting you! Draco told me he told you—and it is about time he told someone—but I had no idea to expect you back so soon. Come in, Teddy is welcome to play tag with my grandchildren. I'm just cleaning up Aries and Cassy. Carina is down for a nap, so if you hear the monitoring charms go off, let me know. Draco is in his potions lab, but he should be along in an hour or so."

"Thanks Lady Malfoy. Um, I brought some gently worn clothes for the kids and Teddy helped me pick out some B-I-K-Es for the kids. Maybe I can put them down somewhere for when Draco finishes?" Harry asked.

"Bikes! Which kid gets a bike?" Scorpius asked loudly.

"The cat is out of the bag now, I'm afraid. You might as well tell them," Narcissa said with a smile.

"All of you, except for Carina; I got her something else to play with, but I want you to wait for your father. I brought some clothes we could start with," Harry offered.

"No one's gonna want clothes when they've got a new bike, Harry," Teddy said rolling his eyes.

"You've got us clothes?" a girl with messy black hair asked. She was older than Cassy, so she must've been Draco's oldest girl. She had Draco's grey eyes and was dressed in clothes Harry distinctly recalled seeing on Bill and Fleur's daughter Victoire before. They still looked clean and only slightly threadbare. Harry looked from her to Cassy and then back to the older girl. Cassy's hair was perfect again and her clothes were almost as nice as the older girl's, but Harry definitely thought Cassy's clothes had been through first Victoire, then the oldest girl, and then little Cassy. Poor little Carina was probably wearing clothes that had been through them all.

"Don't be rude Lyra; introduce yourself to Auror Harry Potter," Narcissa chastised.

"Um, yes. I'm Lyra Narcissa Malfoy. It's a pleasure to meet your 'quaintance," Lyra said.

"I'm Scorpius Draco Malfoy. I wrote you that letter, which I'm sorry for sir. I know I shouldn't have done it. You don't need to worry about us; we're fine," Scorpius said, stepping forward. Scorpius looked a bit like Harry had remembered, with blue eyes and black hair, but the boy had changed a lot. He was tall and skinny, taller than Teddy, although skinnier than Teddy too and clearly wearing Teddy's old hand-me-downs; Harry had bought Teddy that shirt at the circus last year. The height reminded Harry of Draco, but the face was all Harry. Harry didn't see how Draco and everyone else had looked at the boy and not known immediately. Well the resemblance wasn't as exact as with little Cassy, because Harry still thought out of all of them, Cassy looked the most like him, but Scorpius still clearly took after Harry when it came to facial features.

"I'm glad you did Scorpius. Your father and I used to be friends and I was hoping we could start our friendship up again, that's why I brought my godson Teddy over to play," Harry replied.

Scorpius nodded, and a little blond haired grey eyed Draco look-a-like stepped forward, his hair slightly tousled. "I'm Caelum Lucius Malfoy. It's nice to meet you sir," he said. Caelum was tall and thin too. Harry thought the boy was almost equal in height with Teddy, although an inch, at least, shorter than Scorpius. Caelum didn't look as grotesquely thin as Scorpius, but was still obviously thinner than Teddy. Harry thought that the clothes Caelum was wearing had also been Teddy's only last year. Were two of Draco's boys sharing the same year's worth of hand-me-down from just his one godson? Apparently so.

"I'm Abraxas Hyperion Malfoy. How do you do?" the final child asked. He had perfectly styled blond hair and Harry's green eyes. He looked to be between Caelum and Lyra in age. He was several inches shorter than Teddy and wearing very well worn and stained clothes that had been Teddy's two years ago. This boy's hair was as flat as Draco's and probably the most nicely styled in the bunch, as if he had just combed it.

"Hi!" Aries called, reaching out for Harry. Aries was absolutely filthy today with bits of food in his hair and all over his clothes. His face was red, like Narcissa had just finished wiping it, but his hair lay neatly in position, despite the food.

"No Aries, you're taking a bath before you go play. You too Cassy, come on, let's get back to our washing up," Narcissa said. "You can set the bikes on the front porch, Harry. The children won't touch them until Draco finishes his work, will they?"

Cassy didn't look as bad as Aries, but her face was smudged and there was a large red stain down here threadbare shirt.

Harry actually began to count himself lucky that he had gotten Dudley's hand-me-downs directly after his cousin; his clothes hadn't been made to pass through three or four other children before making their way to him.

There were murmured comments from the Malfoy children at their grandmother's words, but a chorus of, "Yes Grandmother," quickly dominated.

"Here, I'll show you the way," Scorpius said, directing Harry and Teddy towards the parlor and from there, through the front door to the porch.

The parlor contained two old beat up looking bicycles in the smallest and second smallest size. They were the size he had gotten for Cygnus and Lyra, although Draco had said Lyra and Abraxas still rode these old things. Harry thought that if he hadn't turned up now with these new bikes, the original two would eventually make their way through all of Draco's children, until they fell apart into dust. They had given Teddy's old bike this size away ages ago.

"Teddy, why don't you take the bag of clothes and help your cousins figure out who gets what. Ginny bundled them and labeled them," Harry said, because he wanted to speak to Scorpius alone.

"Okay," Teddy agreed and waited for Harry to enlarge the bag back to normal size.

With two outfits for each of eight children, the bag was large and Teddy struggled to carry it inside the Manor. Harry made a show of unshrinking the bikes, including Teddy's old one. Scorpius helped line them up and arrange them in order.

"You've gotten Cael, Brax, and I all big boy bikes. Whose is which?" Scorpius asked as the front door closed.

"It doesn't matter to me; Teddy just said these were the three coolest looking ones. But Scorpius, I wanted to talk to you about your letter alone, before we go back inside," Harry said.

"I'm sorry. My father told me that you weren' together and I was jumping to conqusions. I shouldn't have written it and I shouldn't have taken the parchmen' without asking or used the quill. Those are my father's things to write back his denial of aksations to the Aurors, he told me. I shouldn't of wasted them," Scorpius explained.

"Well that is between you and him Scorpius. I wanted to tell you that I'm sorry I didn't keep in touch with your father. I honestly had no idea things were this bad for your family; Merlin, I thought he only had you two boys!"

"Cael and I aren't s'pposed to mention Brax and the others when our grandmother takes us out."

"Yes, I know that now. Might I ask you to keep another secret? I know you already have a lot of secrets to keep, but I haven't told Teddy you thought I was your dad."

"Oh, I'm already s'pposed to keep that to myself! My father said I'm not to go 'round repeating _my_ aksations when he's got enough already. Like I said, I'm _real_ sorry, sir."

"You can call me Harry. I want to bring Teddy around twice a month on Saturday mornings if your father will let me. I'm going to start helping out again, like I did when you were little. Your father didn't come out of the war well and I helped him get back on his feet when he'd just had you and Caelum. I've tried for years to find out who your other father is, so I will take your suggestion and test myself. I'm making the potion now. You're right, you do look like me. Cassy does too."

"I know, right? I keep telling Cael that, but he never listens. I told my father that when he grounded me for writing the letter, but he didn't listen either. He said that it was the Dark Lord and some dead dark wizard named Tom who did it and to leave you alone."

"Tom did look a lot like me. He and I had a lot in common actually—we were both orphans with black hair and grew up alone with no one to love us—but he went one way when he grew up and I went the other. Believe it or not Scorpius, but I only had hand-me-down clothes from my cousin Dudley and old broken toys my whole life. It wasn't until I went to Hogwarts that I ever had anything new for my own."

"Like me!"

"Not exactly, but that is why I want to help you and your brothers and sisters, because I don't want you going through that. But you're already better off, because you've got a father and a grandmother who love you very much and would do anything they could for you. Neither Tom nor I ever had that."

"Oh, I know, my father is wonderful. He loves us all and he does what he can."

"Yes, he does seem to do that."

"He's got a lot on his plate without me being ungra'eful, I know. He's got the aksations all the time and the howlers and he's pregnant again. He's tired a lot this time of year and I know I should help out more and not cause problems."

"What do you know about accusations and howlers?" Harry asked curiously. He knew what was said around the Ministry, but what was reaching Draco at home?

"It's just nonsense from the war with my grandfather being a conveded Death Eater. They send mean, nasty letters to my father, because they can't send them to prison. My father takes us there to visit Grandfather Lucius, you know."

"He told me, but he didn't tell me he had a problem with howlers."

"Well we don't get more than one a month, honest, but they really upset the little-uns when they come. Last time Aries wailed for like an _hour_ after!"

"Alright, well why don't you tell me more about you and your brothers. We really should split up the bikes by favorite color. What are your favorite colors?" Harry asked, leading Scorpius onto a more kid friendly topic.

The two of them sorted out the bikes by favorite color and size, before going back inside. Teddy was already passing out the last of the clothes to Narcissa, with the older children all having disappeared somewhere to change.

"These are really nice Teddy. I'll change Cassy and Aries into them right now," Narcissa was saying.

"Thanks Great Aunt Cissy. Harry said Ginny went special to get the small ones for the new baby and the old baby. She's got a cousin with little kids. The other stuff is just from me and my Weasley cousins," Teddy explained with a shrug.

"Teddy, we're back; you can give Scorpius his clothes now," Harry said, stepping up to Teddy and squeezing his shoulder.

"I really 'preciate this Teddy," Scorpius said.

"Oh yeah, sure. Your brothers all went through that door over there by the fireplace. Your sister is in the loo; girls. Victoire is like that too; always in there doin' her hair and lookin' at herself in the mirror."

Scorpius snickered. "Sounds like Brax, if you ask me. His hair already lays flat, so why's he spend so much time on it? I swear he even brushes Lyra's hair almost every day. She needs it, because her hair's like mine and doesn't lie right. Girls are s'pposed to have long pretty hair my father says, but Lyra's isn't pretty, just long. She's always saying it's too much work and not fair Brax, Cael, Cassy, and Carina got the good hair."

While the boys talked, Narcissa dressed Cassy and Aries, who had been wrapped in nothing but towels after their bath. Cassy straightened her dress herself after Narcissa pulled it over the girl's head, but Narcissa still had her hands full with dressing Aries when the monitoring charm went off.

"That'll be Carina. Do me a favor Harry and finish dressing Aries, so I can get the baby?" Narcissa asked.

Harry agreed and Narcissa handed Aries over to Harry.

"He hobeless," Cassy said, pointing at Aries.

"That's not nice Cassy. If you're mean again it'll be a time out," Scorpius warned his little sister.

"Sorry Ries," Cassy said and flopped down to put on her shoes.

Harry dressed Aries, struggling with the squirming toddler. He couldn't remember a time when Teddy had been so difficult to dress, unless Teddy had been throwing a tantrum, but Aries didn't seem to be purposefully causing trouble at all. Aries just kept randomly getting up to walk away, with only one leg in his trousers and the like. Finally Harry got Aries dressed, right before Narcissa came down with baby Carina, already dressed in the new clothes. Carina had blond curls that looked as perfectly coiffed as Cassy's, now that Carina wasn't wearing a hat.

The boys came out of the side room first and all thanked Harry profusely for the new clothes, especially little Cyg, who acted like he had never had such nice clothes before, even though they were still second-hand.

Lyra came out of the bathroom then, crying that the brush had gotten stuck in her hair again. Harry thought Narcissa would handle that, but to his surprise, little Brax stepped forward and fixed it. Brax sat Lyra down on the ground and took over the brush, making his sister's messy black hair look somewhat decent.

Brax, Cyg, and Cassy started running around the room again and Harry began to think of this room as the tag-you're-it room, because those were primarily the words he kept hearing in here. While the children played, talked, and brushed each other's hair, Harry pulled out Carina's gift and started assembling it in the hallway off to the side of the room. Harry was just getting used to the chaos of having nine children all in one room while he tried to assemble a complex contraption when Draco came in.

Draco took baby Carina from his mother, kissing the baby on the head, before nodding to Harry. Draco sat down on the floor next to Harry, pulling up his shirt, and started nursing Carina right there. Well Harry supposed Draco was used to that sort of thing with eight children and Harry remembered back when it had been Scorpius and then Cael Draco was nursing. He looked away, back to the toy.

"What do you have there, Harry?" Draco asked.

"It's some sort of baby toy. I got the rest of your kids bikes and the muggle at the shop recommended this for Carina. Now I remember why I hate buying muggle assembly required things; I can never remember that blasted screw driver charm," Harry answered, fitting two colorful plastic pieces together and tapping it with his wand. Yet again, the charm failed, leaving the screw definitely not screwed in.

"A blast-ended skrewt charm? If you think you are going to turn into Hagrid around my children, then you are mistaken. Just because I have too many of them, doesn't mean I will agree to something so dangerous. I can't afford the hospital bills for any of them besides Caelum. Luckily for me it _is_ always Cael who needs medical attention. Did you know that when Scorpius was four he had the bright idea to take Cael and Brax tree climbing? Scorp and Brax were regular little monkeys, but Cael reckoned he really was a monkey and tried to jump to the next tree. He fell and broke his arm. The only one to ever break a bone, and lucky for me it was the only one with medical insurance paid by the Ministry," Draco said.

"Not a blast-ended skrewt, it's a muggle thing. You'll see it's safe for babies when I get it together."

"Alright, and what other muggle thing did you say you got the other kids? I didn't hear with all this screaming."

Teddy, Scorp, Cael, and Lyra had all rejoined the tag session, which was louder than ever. Harry had been worried for the safety of Cassy and Aries at first, but Draco's older children seemed to be good about avoiding collisions with their youngest siblings. Harry just hoped Teddy was as careful.

"Bikes," Harry repeated.

"Bikes? Seriously Potter? I hope you at least got them second-hand."

"No, the clothes I brought are all second-hand, but Teddy and I bought the bikes new this morning. They're waiting outside. Your mum said they couldn't have them until you were done brewing your potion."

"You brought them clothes too?" Draco's tone sounded incredulous.

"What's wrong? I got all of the gifts equal, just like you said, even for the baby."

"What's wrong is that it's Christmas in two weeks and I can't even _hope_ to compete with bikes _and_ new clothes. If I had known you were going to spend so much money, I would have asked for beds! That's what I've been saving up for; I've got them all new mattresses, but I've no hope of getting the frames before their birthdays."

"They need new beds?" Harry asked, looking up from the toy. "Why didn't you tell me that last week instead of clothes and toys?"

"Because I didn't think you were going to go all out. I thought you'd get a _one_ galleon toy for each and plenty of new clothes. Please tell me you didn't just get them one outfit each and waste the rest of the money on _bikes_. I know you are Harry Potter, but that's extravagant, even for _you_."

"Two, actually, and all of them hand-me-downs Ginny gathered up for me. We already talked about it though, and she's getting more clothes. We're going to get them a whole wardrobe each, although not new. She's still gathering the pieces. You said the gifts have to be equal, so she's saving the rest until she's got stuff for the other kids too. She's got loads for Lyra, Cassy, Carina, and Aries, apparently, but she's having more difficulty with the others. Andy's already given you almost all of Teddy's old clothes and he's the only one we know old enough to give clothes to your oldest three boys. And none of the Weasleys have a boy Cyg's age, so he's hard too. They all had girls first and sometimes second too. But you don't need to worry, because she's going to hit the consignment shops to fill in the gaps."

"Alright, thanks. And you don't need to worry about Scorp and Cael; they have all the hand-me-downs my aunt just gave me in September. She buys him an entire new wardrobe every school year, can you believe it?"

"Yes; I bet your parents did the same for you when you were his age."

"Yes, they did, but things were different then. Now I can't imagine having that much money. I'm trying to barter for the frame for _one_ bed, so I can duplicate it into six or seven beds. I already duplicated the _one_ mattress I bought ten times, just so I won't have to worry about getting another one in a good long while."

"What happened to their old beds, Draco?"

"Five of them were still sleeping in that old toddler bed you bought me for Scorpius. I had duplicated it five times, which weakens it, and then it wasn't that well made to begin with. I noticed that, with the muggle furniture you bought me: it's all cheap and doesn't hold up to duplication like wizarding furniture does. Not that I'm not grateful, I am, because Merlin knows those toddler beds lasted me a lot of children through a lot of years."

"Alright, well how about I buy them one bed frame for Christmas from a wizarding store, and you duplicate it however many times you want."

"Alright, deal. I can't believe you are coming to my rescue _again_."

"I'm happy to help."

"You do know that I am _never_ going to be able to top this Christmas, if they all get new clothes, bikes, _and beds_. They are going to be so spoiled after this that their birthdays will be an utter let down."

"Um, I was thinking of getting a playground set too. You know, because it's something they can all play with? You said you didn't want paint or instruments and a playground is the one thing I've always wanted to buy Teddy. I could afford it, but he's only the one kid and I don't have a yard at Grimmauld Place. I offered to get it for Andy's yard, but she told me to get him a broom instead."

"You seriously want to buy my kids a playground?" Draco asked incredulously.

"Yeah, um, if that's alright with you. If you don't want me too, I won't get it."

"No, you can get it. It's just that I'm going to owe Scorpius an apology."

"What for?"

"I punished him for writing that letter, but it seems that was the best thing that has happened to me since you got me released from jail."

"Right, well the gift isn't solely for your kids. I expect you'll let me and Teddy come over every other Saturday morning. He's desperately lonely for other kids to play with. He actually told me this morning that Scorp and Cael were _so_ lucky to have all of these little brothers and sisters."

"I remember thinking like that back when I was little. I was an only child too, but my father's friends had kids. That's how I met Vince, Greg, and Theo, actually. Can you believe our four families all planned to have first born sons the same year? How bloody snobbishly pureblooded must my parents have been to arrange _that_ with their three closest couple friends."

"Very," Harry said, looking around at all of the portraits on the walls. The furniture was gone, but if anything there were _more_ portraits on these walls than the last time he'd visited when Scorp and Cael were babies. "Did you get more portraits?"  
"No, we just moved all of the ones from the various playrooms down here. We don't want them to have a chance to be alone with the kids."

"They don't mind, do they? That they don't know who the father is? I know I've got a portrait of Sirius' mum up in my house and the bloody woman is a nightmare. Teddy's used to her racist slurs by now and knows to ignore her, but still, I can imagine what she would say to eight children without knowing where they came from."

"My ancestors are all fine with it. The Dark Lord arranged it, so they are certain my load of Malfoy spawn are all secretly exceedingly pure when it comes to blood. Bloody prejudiced wankers; if I was a Weasley they'd scream that they were certain the other father was a mudblood."

"Well there's that going for you at least," Harry offered.

"That my own racist ancestors favor me? Yes, I'll always have that." Draco laughed. "I actually ordered my portraits not to discuss blood politics in front of the children, because I don't want them turning out like me."

"Sounds highly amusing."

"Oh trust me, it is. Salazar and Merlin like to go at it; they knew each other back in their day. I used to come in and find them at each other's throats when I was a kid. I mean, they were literally in one of the other's portrait with their hands around each other's throats. I had to threaten them to stay out of each other's portraits or I'd burn them both."

"That must have stopped the bickering. They don't want to get burned, do they?"

"Well it just moved it really. Our one old house elf tells me they still go at it in the kitchen, where no one can hear them. There's a picture of my very large Great Great Aunt Beatrix dancing the ballet in there in a giant pink tutu. I'm not sure why it's in there actually, because no human ever sets foot in our kitchen. Anyway, the two of them invade her frame, kick the very large and heinously dressed woman's portrait out, and bicker over muggleborns and house elves."

"House elves too? Salazar hated everyone, didn't he?"

"No, Salazar is _in favor_ of house elf rights; it's Merlin who's anti-elf. No one ever seems to remember that after his pro-muggle stance, but then I guess they don't have Merlin's portrait in their house shouting obscenities at their elves, now do they?"  
Harry burst out in hysterical laughter at the image that formed in his head.

"Alright Potter, you've had your laugh. Now I'm done feeding Carina, so let's go outside and get these bikes over with. You can take that contraption back to the muggle store and get the baby something else instead. Maybe something already assembled and wizard, that way I can duplicate whatever it is for the next baby."

"No, I'll take it home to Hermione and she'll have it together in ten seconds flat, guaranteed. But we can go do the bikes now."

"Make your announcement; they are your gifts."

Harry did as Draco suggested and got a loud cheer from the children. The rowdy group ran outside followed by the three adults and the baby. The bikes were a huge hit, of course.

Little Abraxas even came up to Harry and said, "This is the best gift I've ever had Auror Harry Potter," before giving Harry a hug.

It was all very heartwarming for Harry and he had a good time watching the children. Harry even found himself watching Narcissa and Draco watching the children. Narcissa's look was pure joy at seeing her grandchildren so happy, while the pregnant Draco actually teared up at the sight.

* * *

Author's Note: What do you think of the older children? Remind you of anyone you know?

Since Harry has been with Ginny for seven years now, I figure she has to be a nice person and their relationship has to work reasonably well. Don't worry though, Harry is already thinking of breaking up with her for her own good.

Up next will be Christmas. Please Review!


	7. Chapter 7

Christmas was coming up fast and Harry promised to spend the morning at Malfoy Manor with Teddy. He was really looking forward to helping Draco put together the bedrooms with all of the new beds. That required him to actually buy one bed for Draco to duplicate. The next Saturday afternoon he purchased a very solid wooden bedframe from a proper wizarding store, just as Draco requested, and apparated it over to the Manor.

Draco was outside tending the plants when Harry arrived. It was a blistery cold winter day, but Draco seemed to have a warming and sunning charm on the field. Harry could see precisely where the border to the charm was, because last night's snow formed a line at the boundary. The charm also covered the grassy area where the children play, as well as a few nearby trees. The oldest four children were climbing in the trees, Cael and little Lyra were both swinging upside down with their knees wrapped around a tree branch.

"Oh Harry, good, you've got it!" Draco said, abandoning the crops and approaching the path Harry was on.

"Draco, are Cael and Ly supposed to be hanging upside down like that?" Harry asked, pointing to the kids. Harry could hardly make out her face from where he stood, but he knew it must be Lyra, because of the long messy black hair that was hanging down in sheets, dangling above the ground. Cael too was easily spotted, because every strand of his blond hair was perfectly in place, even while upside down.

"Oi Lyra! You know I can't afford it if you were to break something! And Cael, I don't have time today to take you to hospital!" Draco chastised.

Four heads turned towards them. The children seemed frozen a moment and then two little boys jumped down. Cael did a flip around the tree branch and landed on his feet, while Lyra had to pull herself up first, but then she was jumping down too and running after her brothers.

Harry was greeted politely by four very excited children and then little Abraxas asked, "What did you get us this time Auror Harry Potter?"

"Um, Draco, do they know?" Harry asked. It was rather obvious he was transporting a large piece of furniture, but it was unassembled, so there was a good chance the children wouldn't be able to tell it was a bed.

"No, they need something to be a surprise. Go play kids while Harry and I get this ready for Christmas," Draco replied.

"You're not taking away our tag room, are you Father?" Cael asked.

"Yeah, we don't want all that stuffy rich people stuff in our tag room like there is in all those old photos you showed us," Brax said.

"It's a drawing room, boys, and no, we are not putting a stitch of furniture in it. This will go in your playrooms. You can stay out here and play quietly in the drawing room, but no daredevil stunts, especially you Cael; I saw how you got down from that tree and I'm not pleased," Draco replied.

Draco led Harry into the Manor, passed a foyer that was now crammed full of bikes. "Sorry, but if we leave them outside, they rust faster. That's the mistake we made with the first two," Draco explained, leading the way up the stairs.

They came out in the second floor sitting room, which amazingly looked very similar to how it was the last time Harry had seen it. He was expecting all new furniture, but there was still the same old couch, only doubled and elongated. It looked like it had been through a lot more wear and tear since Harry had last been here, with identical large purple stains on one seat cushion and patches on the armrests. The room was of a good size and took all of the couches easily, with empty corners where end tables and display cases should be, but weren't.

Draco caught the direction of Harry's gaze. "We stretched the sofa first, but then that wasn't enough and we duplicated it. Let me just check on the little ones before we start; it's nap time," Draco said, walking towards the room Harry had remembered being set up for Draco and his two babies all those years ago.

Harry propped the bedframe up against the wall and followed after Draco. There was still the same large bed in the room, but now there were two of them. The toddler bed was gone, but there were two very battered identical cribs. Carina and Aries were sleeping peacefully in the cribs, while Cassy and Cyg were sleeping together on one of the beds with an empty pillow in between them. The empty bed contained two pillows at the head and another two at the foot, with a small blanket laid out neatly next to each.

"Draco, do all of the children sleep in this one room?" Harry asked.

"Right now, yes. Before, when I had the toddler beds set up, Scorp and Cael had the room on the left, while Brax and Ly had the room on the right. Cyg and Cassy were in the cribs then and Carina and Aries weren't born."

"Oh." Harry didn't know what to say, so he just looked around the room. There were several beat up old dressers and one armoire, but nothing else in the room besides the thick drapes on the windows. The room was large enough that even with all of that, it still managed to look empty.

"I've been storing the mattresses and sheet sets upstairs," Draco said, leading Harry back out to the sitting room and then up another flight of stairs. "I think it's best to work up there, so that the children don't see. Christmas eve I'll move it all into position. I'm going to put Brax and Cyg in the room on the right this time and Ly and Cassy in the room on the left. Scorp and Cael will go in the spare room."

The third floor landing was half the size of the second and bare of furniture. Draco led Harry through the door on the left, which was a short hallway with just two more doors. The first door was opened and showed a small, barren room. It looked like it would make a good office, but a small bedroom. The other door Harry thought might be a closet or a bathroom, but turned out to be a small office absolutely stuffed with new mattresses and sheet sets. There was also a box of what looked like new toys in the corner.

"I've been stock piling this for Christmas. Well some of it is extra duplicated items that I store so that I always have a fresh template to make more off of," Draco explained.

"Funny, I always thought this house was bigger. It looks huge from the outside." All of the rooms were large, but there just weren't that many of them; it was not the endless sprawling mansion he'd always pictured in his mind.

"It was huge for three people, but with ten of us and counting, it's getting tight. Part of why it looks so big is that the first floor has twice the floor space as the second and half of the third floor is taken up by a patio and the rest is the master bedroom. Up on the fourth floor there's an attic apartment, which hasn't been used since my grandparents died," Draco explained. "How are you with duplications charms Harry?"

"Not that good. You better do it."

"Alright, help me lay out each piece."

They separated the bed into pieces for Draco to duplicate, with Harry doing the heavy lifting and Draco assisting with his wand. "Listen Draco, I wanted to come over for Christmas and deliver the rest of the clothes and the playground set."

"Yeah, sure."

"But I always spend Christmas morning with Teddy, Ginny, and Andy. Ginny is the one who's responsible for the clothes, Andy is your aunt, and Teddy's already been here. Would it be alright if I brought them?"

Draco paused in his work to stare blankly at Harry for half a minute. "You want me to let your girlfriend and my aunt over here so they can see how poor we are?" he finally asked.

"They already know you're poor. And I told both of them about all of the kids, so you don't need to worry about them judging you or whatever. We just want to come over for a few hours, pass out our gifts, and watch Teddy play with your kids."

"I don't know…"

"Come on Draco, I know Andy and Ginny were nice to you the last time they saw you. Ginny was here with me that one time right after Cael was born."

"I don't know if I can face your girlfriend after that letter my son wrote you."

"Oh, I didn't tell her about that. Well I told her there was a letter that made me come check on you, but she doesn't know anything about Scorp thinking I'm his dad."

"Really?"

"Yes. Well I didn't know how I was supposed to explain that and the paternity potion still isn't ready, so there's not much of a point in telling her now. _If_ they are mine, then of course I'll have to tell her, but until I know, I thought putting it off would be easier than dealing with it."

"I'm glad you did; it's a big relief to me. The less people who know about that the better. The last thing I need is people thinking that I told my son _any_ of that. I'd probably get a year in Azkaban for blasphemy against the Savior."

Harry chuckled at Draco's exaggeration. "Good, then I can bring them with me."

"Yes, alright, but I don't want them spreading around what they see.

Harry agreed and the two of them went back to work on the bed.

"I think I've got this covered from here. If you want you can go downstairs and play with the older kids. Maybe check on the babies once more before you go, because Carina normally wakes up around this time," Draco said.

Harry agreed and went back down to the second floor. Carina was rubbing her eyes, just waking up, so Harry picked the baby up. Then he took the opportunity to snoop around to see how much Draco needed. The armoire and dressers in this room were all full of Draco's clothes and baby things. Harry found what looked like an endless pile of nappies in the bottom of the armoire, which made him wonder what happened to the changing table he had bought for Scorp and Cael. Most likely it had fallen apart and been tossed, because there was no sign of it. The only door led to an attached bathroom, which looked like it got its share of use, judging by the prodigious number of tooth brushes.

Next Harry took Carina with him to the room on the right of the sleeping room. It was very large, but empty except for some toys, three dressers, and one armoire that were all full of boy's clothes. The toys were neatly arranged along the wall and each looked well played with. The one door off of it led to an attached bathroom.

From there Harry went to the room behind the stairs, which was a study that was set up like a classroom. It contained six sets of desks and chairs, four of which looked like they belonged to the children. It too followed the Manor theme of being overly large and thus appearing sparsely furnished. Harry thought a couple more desks would fit easily and that it really ought to have a shelf full of children's books.

The next door Harry opened was a large bathroom off of the sitting room, proving that the one thing the Malfoys were not lacking was lavatories. The next door was another giant empty bedroom, also with its own loo. There were more dressers and the toys in here looked like they were for littler kids than the toys in the other room.

The last door was a fourth bedroom with bath, just as large as the others, but almost completely empty, devoid even of children's toys. The only items in this room were piles of used clothing, apparently separated by sex and size. There were piles of baby clothes in the sizes Carina wasn't currently wearing, little girl's dresses in Aries and Cyg's sizes, and boy's clothes in Lyra's and Cassy's sizes. This appeared to be where hand-me-downs were stored until they were needed again.

Finally done snooping, Harry decided to go downstairs. He checked the drawing room for the children first, but all he found was Carina's new toy. Hermione had assembled it and offered to drop it off for Harry. Now that it was assembled, it seemed to have a baby seat in the middle and was surrounded by toys. It was made out of bright plastic colors instead of wood, but now that it was together it didn't look too different from a toy George and Angelina had had for their little Fred.

The children weren't in here, so Harry went back outside and found them having a snowball fight. None of them were dressed for the cold, but that seemed to be part of the game. They would scoop up snow from the boarder, make snowballs, and fling them at each other before they melted from the heating charm. At least they were wearing gloves so they wouldn't get frost bite. The game was filled with the happy sounds of children's amusement and laughter.

Harry stood out there with Carina and watched the children play. It was amazing how well they got on together. They acted the opposite of the way he and Dudley used to be, with none of them picking on each other. They weren't like the Weasleys either and didn't insult each other or fight over limited resources, instead sharing what they had, even in a snowball war. Of course with four children they'd split up into teams, blonds against raven haired, with Scorp and Lyra against Cael and Brax.

It wasn't long before the toddlers woke up from their naps. Harry helped Draco watch the kids for another hour, but this was his weekend to spend with Ginny and he had other Christmas shopping to do, so he had to go after that. He wanted to stay, feeling drawn to these wonderful children, but at least he had an excuse to come back soon.

* * *

Christmas morning came and as always, Harry and Ginny had spent the night at Andy's, so that they could watch Teddy open presents first thing in the morning.

"What time are we going to Draco's?" Ginny asked, sitting next to Harry on the sofa while Teddy ravaged the large stack of wrapped toys.

Teddy's pile was as large as that of all of the toys Draco had in the corner of that office combined. Next year, Harry would make sure all of the children's gifts were equal to Teddy's. He'd wanted to get more toys for the Malfoy children, but they had needed other things so much more. Instead he'd gotten them a few new outfits, in addition to the used stuff Ginny had put together and new sneakers. There were books too from Andy, because she'd asked Harry what she should get. Harry had remembered the empty classroom and suggested books.

"Ten. Now remember that he doesn't like being reminded of how poor he is, how rich he used to be, or how far he thinks he's fallen," Harry replied.

"Harry, I know. And the Malfoys being broke stopped being funny _years_ ago," Ginny replied.

"Oh, and I think he might still have that phobia of intimacy. It's probably best to stick to holding hands, so we don't make him uncomfortable," Harry said. After the rape, Harry noticed that Draco cringed at the sight of people kissing. He didn't even want to know how Draco reacted to anything more sexual.

"Still? You don't think he's gotten over that by now?"

"Well I didn't exactly start making out with myself in his presence, did I? But from what he's said, I'm reasonably certain he hasn't dated anyone since Hogwarts."

"Poor guy. You don't need to worry, because I'm not exactly into making out in front of all of those children."

Harry smiled and leaned in for a chaste kiss.

"Alright Teddy, chose one toy to take with you and make it quick. We have to eat and get dressed before we can go visit the Malfoys," Andy announced.

At ten O'clock the four of them apparated over to Malfoy Manor, Andy taking Teddy side along. Ginny and Harry carried nine bags of clothes, shoes, and books between them for each of the children and for Draco. They gathered in the tag room on the first floor to pass out gifts. Draco and Narcissa had the room set up for the holiday, with a lighted tree, snowflakes, and garlands; all of the decorations were conjured and would fade in a day, but they served their purpose.

They had only gotten Draco one new set of robes, but he was still shocked to get something and seemed appreciative. All of the children were happy to receive the gifts, thanking Andy, Harry, Ginny, and Teddy. Cyg was the only one who seemed disappointed in his lot, but then he was too young to really value gifts that weren't toys. The children had hand-made ornaments and cards for each of them. Draco gave them a jar of homemade jam. Narcissa gave Teddy a copy she'd made herself of the Black family book, which contained a history of their family and all of the notable members. It was something only she could give, because her sister hadn't been allowed to keep her copy when she was disowned; Narcissa was officially the last of the Blacks.

Scorp and Cael both seemed to gravitate towards their new shoes, staring at the shiny white leather as if they'd never owned a pair like that before; they probably hadn't. Brax was drooling over the books, his eyes wide as he started to read right there. Brax even eyed his older brother's books covetously, but books last, so he would eventually get to read those too. Aries was also a fan of the books, picking up a little cardboard one with bright colors that made animal sounds when he touched the magical creatures in it. Aries didn't put that book down all day and screeched when Harry tried to take it from him to read to him. Lyra couldn't stop gushing about her new clothes. Cassy insisted on changing into her new dress right that moment, stripping there in the drawing room.

Teddy had fun running around with all of the other kids and seemed to be feeding off of their excitement, while the adults had fun watching the kids. Draco's kids seemed to be in agreement that this was the best Christmas ever, because not only did they have new bikes, shoes, books, and clothes from Harry, Ginny, and Andy, but they had one new toy each, new beds, and new rooms from Draco and Narcissa. Harry didn't want his contribution of the bedframes to overshadow all of the effort Draco and Narcissa had put into the gift, so he kept his name out of it; when asked, he said he only picked up the frame from the store.

Teddy must have spent half an hour being pulled between hyper children who wanted to show off their new rooms, as if it was the best gift in the world. Harry thought Teddy would roll his eyes at the fact that the children were so excited about having such a normal thing that they should have had all along, but to Harry's relief, Teddy seemed to be through the roof himself. Of course for Teddy it wasn't the rooms, but the sheer number of kids to play with. It was like having all of Molly and Arthur's grandkids combined under one roof, but better, because there were three boys near Teddy's age. All of the eldest Weasley grandchildren were girls and several years younger than Teddy to boot.

The general excitement and squeals of delight around the house only increased when they all went outside and Harry gave them the playground set. Even shrunk, it was large, so Kreacher delivered it when called. Before it could be played on, Harry unshrunk it, Narcissa stretched it, and Draco duplicated it. Instead of the original two swings, one slide, and one set of monkey bars, it ended up with eight swings, two larger slides, and two sets of elongated monkey bars. It looked rather impressive on the heated grassy yard and provided hours of enjoyment that day alone.

* * *

Author's Note: Wouldn't you just love a little Malfoy child for Christmas? I know I would.

Up next will be the paternity test. Please Review!


	8. Chapter 8

_Draco—The potion is ready. Can I come over this weekend to test it? –Harry_

_Harry—Yes. –Draco_

_Draco—I'll be there Saturday at ten. –Harry_

Harry could hardly sleep Friday night with his anticipation. Ginny kept asking him what was wrong. He told her that he was going to start testing potential fathers to the Malfoy children, but she didn't understand why he was so anxious about it. He had kept her in the dark about the possibility that he was the father for a month now. Up until the potion was ready, the fib didn't bother him. But now that the actual test was approaching, he began to feel like he was lying to her and betraying her trust by not telling her. Only now he had gone so long without telling her that he didn't know how to broach the subject.

Harry did eventually fall asleep. After being up all night, he ended up sleeping in. He woke up with barely enough time to dress, grab the potion, and apparate to the Manor.

"You have it?" Draco asked, standing in the foyer to greet Harry.

"Yes. How do you want to do this?"

"I already have our hairs. I don't want them to know, so let's go into the potions lab."

Draco led Harry through the drawing room, down a long hallway, and into the lab. He had eight vials laid out with two hairs in each, one from him and the other from the child being tested. Harry added his own hairs to each vial and then poured out a measure of paternity potion from the large flask he brought with him. Every time he had tested Scorp and Cael before, back when they were babies, the potion always did nothing. If it wasn't a match, it would be the same as if it didn't work at all. It would be no different from pouring oatmeal on the hairs.

This time, nothing was not what happened. The first vial began to smoke before Harry had even started pouring the potion into the fourth vial. It was a thick pink color and billowed up out of vials. There were eight vials of it all spewing forth thick sooty fumes, so it quickly filled the room. Draco started choking on the smoke. Since Draco was pregnant with what was likely Harry's ninth child, Harry quickly grabbed him and pulled him out of the room, back into the hall and closing the door behind them.

Draco coughed and leaned against the wall for support. It wasn't just that he had breathed in the awful pink fumes, but the weight of the situation that was sinking in. Draco slowly sunk to the floor as his head spun.

"Draco, are you alright? Draco! Are you going to pass out?" Harry asked frantically, kneeling down in front of Draco.

"No," Draco replied in a daze.

"No you're not alright or no you're not going to pass out?"

"The second one…maybe the first one too."

"What should I do?"

Draco shrugged. There wasn't much _to_ do but get their heads on straight and go tell the children.

"Right, well then," Harry said and leaned up against the wall next to Draco. Now that he was fairly certain Draco wasn't in danger of passing out, he could freak out too. Eight kids? What was he going to do with eight kids? Plus Teddy and the baby on the way? Marrying Ginny and having a kid with her was certainly out of the question.

They were both silent, lost in thought, for half an hour.

"How?" Draco asked.

"How what?"

"How did the Dark Lord get your, you know? Did you ever—with him there?"

"What? No! There was _never_ anything like that."

"Then how? I know you said you were connected, but I don't see how he could have completed the ritual without your actual stuff."

"Oh, well I might know that. Hermione's been researching it for me. She said that there's a way to make viable semen; wizards sometimes use it if their own bits aren't functioning properly. It requires a really powerful wizard to cast the spell, a complex potion, a dark ritual, and blood from the person whose semen you want to create. Voldemort took my blood. He used it to recreate his body. My blood flowed in his veins, so he could create my semen by taking a sample of it anytime he pleased. You said there was a dark spell involved; maybe that was it."

"Oh... Harry?"

"Yeah Draco?"

"Could you do me a favor and _not_ give your blood to any dark wizards again?"

"Of course; I didn't want the git to have my blood in the first place."

"Good."

"Draco?"

"Yes Harry?"

"What do you think of me being the father? I'm not just asking about having a father to help out and support them, but having that person be _me_ specifically. We've got on alright for a while now, but are you okay with your kids being mine? I'm only a halfblood."

"Just don't tell the portraits and it'll be fine."

"Okay. But seriously, what are you thinking? Our kids might grow up to be Gryffindors."

"I don't know about the one inside me yet, but the eight upstairs are Slytherins."

"How can you tell? They seem like such nice, down to Earth children. I don't think there's a conniving bone in any of their bodies."

"Slytherin isn't just about blood purity, dark magic, and sly tricks, you know. It's about heritage, honor, devotion to family, bravery, self-preservation, and intelligence. It's our culture, really."

Harry raised his eye skeptically, but didn't feel like arguing about school houses; not when he just found out that he has eight kids he didn't know about.

"I'll concede that Aries and Carina are still so young that you stand a chance at persuading them around to your way of thinking, but I think that's unlikely," Draco continued. "Two hours twice a month with you is not enough to turn them into Gryffindors."

"Draco, I don't want to be here twice a month now that I know they're mine! I want to be here every day!"

"Come again?"

"I know I can't live here, but what's to stop me from coming over when I get off of work and flooing home at night? Maybe I can't come every _single_ day, but five or six days a week should be doable. Don't tell me you can't use the help and I want to get to know them."

"What about your fiancé? You're getting married; you won't have that much time for us."

"I'm breaking up with Ginny."

"Why?"  
"Because I've no business getting married and having kids with Ginny when our eight kids are living in poverty. I know I already helped you a lot, but now that I know they're my kids, things are going to change. I'm going to furnish this house properly and get them everything they need. I grew up with nothing and I've always said that my children will have what I didn't. I was appalled when I came here last month and realized your kids didn't even have as much stuff as I had; even if they weren't my kids I was going to change that."

"You shouldn't give up your life for us; this wasn't your fault. You should marry Ginny Weasley and give us what you can. The Ministry gives me twenty galleons a month for Cael; just give me another sixty and I'll make it work. Salazar, I could make this place look like a palace again with eighty galleons a month! I used to not think that was possible, but with the way we grow all of our own food and duplicate things, I can do miracles with a few galleons."

"I won't do that to my kids. I don't want them to see me living a better life than they are. I'm going to spend every last galleon on them."

"You don't have to."

"I want to. Besides, I'd be mortified if the Prophet found out my kids had nothing while I had everything. I won't do it."

"The Prophet doesn't have to know. The Ministry doesn't even know I've got more than the first two."

"How is that possible? You have to register their births with the Ministry before you leave St. Mungo's. And you have to list them on your taxes at least."

"Cael was the only one born at St. Mungo's. I had all the others here. I can't afford a healer for something that happens just the same either way, now can I? And we were already in the bottom tax bracket with just two, so there was no point telling the Ministry about the rest."

"You seriously didn't tell anyone at all about them?"

"No, I told the guards at Azkaban; I have to register who I'm taking to see my father."

"Right…" Harry didn't like the idea that his kids were visiting Lucius in Azkaban twice a year. Yes, the dementors were gone, but it still wasn't the type of place to take children. Was it too late in the game to disallow it?

"So like I was saying, the Prophet doesn't need to know any of this, Harry."

"They are going to find out when I take them to the Ministry gala in two weeks. Spouses and children are invited and I want you all to come with me."

"Absolutely not! I won't have them showing up in rags to a gala!"

"I'll buy dress robes; brand new ones too, not hand-me-downs."

"There's no way you can afford dress robes for all of us on top of furnishing the Manor like you said. If it comes down to it, I'd rather have the furniture."

"I've got some money saved up. I'll just spend it all."

"I don't want you to do that. We'll need the money when we start sending them off to Hogwarts in another four years."

"You said you didn't claim six of the kids on your taxes, correct?" Harry asked, getting a sudden burst of inspiration.

"Correct, why?"  
"Well I could re-file my taxes for the past six years claiming them! I'll get so much tax money back that I can fix up your house, take the kids to however many galas I want, and send them to Hogwarts with new things."

"Alright," Draco agreed. "How are we going to tell the children?"

"There's nothing for it but to say it. Scorpius already knows I was making the potion and he already suspects it."

"I'll call them all down to the drawing room then."

They stood up slowly and went upstairs to fetch the children and Narcissa. Narcissa seemed to know the result just from the looks on their faces and the fact that they were calling a family meeting.

"Alright, sit down against the wall; I want your full attention and no playing around," Draco ordered, holding Carina on his hip.

Narcissa was holding Aries, sitting down against the wall with the children. Harry felt guilty that the aging witch was made to sit on the ground, but there was no furniture in this room.

"Father, what's wrong?" Cael asked, holding Cyg's hand and trying to get his little brother to sit down properly.

"Nothing is wrong. Auror Harry Potter just has some news to share with you all. Now be quiet so that everyone can hear him," Draco said.

When the children were all seated and quiet, Draco nodded to Harry.

Harry stepped forward and said, "Er, right. We Aurors have been trying to track down your second father for years. Scorpius informed me last month of a new possible suspect and I brewed a potion then that would allow us to test his idea out. I brought the potion over this morning and it produced a positive result."

Scorpius was smiling and Cael's and Brax's chins dropped down to their chests.

"Well who is it?" Lyra asked impatiently. Apparently Scorpius had not told his little sister his suspicions.

"Me, I am, your dad that is. The result was the same for all of you; you're all mine. What do you kids think? Would it be alright if I was your dad?"

Scorpius jumped up and ran to hug Harry and the others followed after him. There was a chorus of agreement, but Harry couldn't make any one response out from the general din of excited shrieks. Even baby Carina smiled and clapped her little hands. Harry never felt more loved and accepted than when his children hugged him. He worried that they wouldn't forgive him for not being around for all those years, but the kids didn't seem to be holding that against him. They were all far too happy that he was here now.

Harry spent the day at Malfoy Manor trying to bond with his kids, but eventually he had to go home to Grimmauld Place and face Ginny.

Ginny knew something was up the moment Harry said they needed to talk, but she was taken completely by surprise by the news. Twice he had to explain to her how it was that Voldemort had gotten his semen for the ritual, because it was just so unbelievable. She was shocked and didn't want to believe it at first, but eventually she did, because she knew he wouldn't make something like this up. Once that was out of the way, he informed her of his desire to break up, for the sake of his children.

"Harry, please don't do this! I love you. _We_ love each other. I know this is a big shock, but we'll make this work. I want to help out with the kids," Ginny insisted.

"You deserve better than this Ginny. I can't afford to take care of my kids and keep us in the life we've become accustomed to. I can't afford a wedding and the last thing I need now is more children. I wanted to build my life with you, I really did, but I can't do that now. You'll find someone else to marry and have kids of your own, just like we talked about, only not with me. I can't be with you anymore; I need to be there for my kids."

"Harry, I don't really care if I don't have kids of my own! This works out great for me actually, because now I don't have to give up my career. I wanted to have kids, because you wanted them. I wanted to give them to you. But now you've got them and I don't have to worry about getting fat! I don't even have to be up during the night tending to runny noses and fevers, because Draco does all that. I like kids, but I'd much rather play with them during the day and leave them with Draco at night."

"You say that now, but I don't want you growing old and resenting me for never giving you children."

"I won't!"

"I'm sorry Gin, but this is the way it has to be. I hope we can still be friends." It was breaking Harry's heart to say it, but he felt he had to. "You're welcome to keep living here—there's plenty of room—but we can't be together anymore. I'll move my stuff to another bedroom."

"Ergh! Harry Potter you are a _stupid senseless moron!_ You are so egotistical making this decision without me! If this is how you are, then maybe we shouldn't get marry after all!" Ginny shouted, before turning her back on Harry and leaving the room. She always did have a temper, only it'd been years since it'd been set off.

Ginny didn't want to do this, but she didn't know what else to say to Harry to get him to see reason. She knew they loved each other and were meant to be together, but he didn't seem to understand that she wanted him much more than she ever wanted children. She could only hope that he would come around and see reason once he got over the shock.

Harry moved his clothes to another room and then owled Ron, Hermione, Andy, and Molly with the news; both of the breakup and that he was the father of the Malfoy children. It had been a very emotionally trying day and he was exhausted, so he went to bed after the letters were sent off. Hopefully Hermione would explain it to Ron, so that he didn't have to.

First thing the next day Harry stopped by Andy's place to explain the news in person to Teddy. He took Teddy out to a muggle ice cream parlor not too far from Andy's house and got them each fat ice cream cones. It was too cold to be ice cream season, but the shop was heated and talks with seven year olds always went down better with ice cream involved.

"Teddy, I need to tell you something really important that I just found out yesterday," Harry began.

"Yeah Harry?" Teddy asked absentmindedly, taking another lick of his treat.

"You know the Malfoy children; Scorpius, Caelum, Abraxas, Lyra, Cygnus, Cass-i-er Cassy, Aries, and Carina." Harry was going to have to ask Draco what Cassy's full name was again. He knew it was a constellation, but he hadn't had to bother with astronomy since fifth year and had forgotten most of it.

"Yeah Harry, we was just there last weekend and we're 'posed to go back next weekend. They're really fun to play with, 'specially Scorp, Cael, and Brax."

"That's good, because we're going to be spending a lot more time with them."

"Awesome!"

"Because I'm their other dad. I didn't know, but I did a test yesterday, and they're all mine. That doesn't mean I'll love you any less, just that I'll be going over there whenever I can. That includes during our visiting time. Do you think it'd be alright to share me with them?"

"Yeah, alright, as long as we still get to play together." Teddy shrugged and went back to eating his ice cream. Then a wide smile split his face in two. "Does this mean they'cin all be my little brothers and sisters? I'm the oldest."

"We'll have to talk to Draco about titles, but during our time together it would be like that, yes."

"Brilliant! I always wann'ed a brother."

Harry thought there was a good chance Teddy wouldn't feel that way once he realized how little attention there was to go around with nine kids and only three adults, but he was glad to get the positive response. This had gone much more smoothly than he had thought.

"Good. After we finish our ice creams, do you want to go furniture shopping with me or should I drop you back off with your gran?"

"Are ya gonna see the Malfoy's t'day?"

"Yes, I'll be dropping off the furniture there after I buy it."

"Then I wanna go wi' you."

With that settled, they focused on their treats. Teddy ended up dripping ice cream down his shirt and getting it all over his face. Harry took him into the restroom to clean him up, so that the muggles wouldn't see his wand. Then it was back to Andy's house to tell her they were going out shopping, before they flooed over to Diagon Alley.

"Auror Potter! What can I get for you today?" Mr. Goodrich, the owner of the furniture shop asked. He was the short balding middle aged man who had sold Harry the bed frame a few weeks ago.

"I've come back for the rest of the set to match the frame. I want the lot; bedside table, chest of drawers, toy chest, wardrobe, and bookcase," Harry answered.

Harry didn't like all of his children having replicated items, because they didn't last as long and there was always a chance the charm would break and the duplicate would disappear. But he had a lot of things to buy and he didn't want to run out of money, so he'd start with one set and let Draco duplicate it for now. Eventually he would get them all their own things.

Mr. Goodrich located the items Harry wanted and stacked them in a large pile. "Will that be all Auror Potter?" he asked when finished.

"No, actually I need a nursery set too; a crib, changing table, chest of drawers, highchair, and rocking chair." Harry had seen the Malfoy dining room. There were two old duplicated highchairs in there, but they weren't in any better shape than the rest of the place. With a new baby coming, they would need a new one.

Mr. Goodrich helped Harry pick out a nice neutral nursery set that matched Draco's bed. "I don't suppose there is anything else I can help you with after all of this. You'd have to be completely redoing your house to want more."

"Actually, I am completely redoing a house, but not mine. It's for someone else and I do need more. I need a large sofa, a couple armchairs, an end table, and a coffee table for a sitting room."

Mr. Goodrich led them over to the collection of sitting room furniture he had. Harry picked a set and then the shopkeeper rang up the bill. Harry didn't carry that much money on him, so he arranged for a Gringotts transfer to pay for it all. Then he called Kreacher and ordered the elf to take the furniture to Malfoy Manor.

"Are the Malfoys having a baby then?" Mr. Goodrich asked. "They've got two boys, haven't they?"

"Lord Malfoy is helping me with a charity project. He said I can store the furniture at his place. It's for a mutual friend," Harry lied. He didn't think Draco was ready for the news to get out just yet.

"That's very kind of you sir. Good day," Mr. Goodrich said.

Harry thanked the man and then borrowed the store's floo, because he had Teddy along.

When they came out of the floo, Draco was in the drawing room with Carina on his hip. Draco stared at the huge pile of furniture, looking rather pale, as if he might faint.

"Um, yeah, I thought this was a good start, but maybe you should sit down," Harry said, positioning the new rocking chair underneath Draco.

Draco passed the baby over to Harry and sat.

"Father!"

"Father, what's going on?"

"Father?"

And then the three eldest Malfoy boys were in the room staring at the pile of furniture.

"Oh no!" Cael exclaimed alarmed.

"Daddy's gone and bought furniture for our drawing room," Scorp said sadly.

"Daddy, how could you? Where are we going to play tag?" Brax asked, sounding betrayed.

"Relax, none of this is staying in here. It's only here until we can sort it all out," Harry assured the children.

"Yay!" the three boys cheered.

It took the entire rest of the day, because Draco had to duplicate everything first and all of the old furniture had to be thrown out. But eventually they got the house back together in a much more presentable manner. The children each had full brand new bedroom sets and there was a new sitting room. Draco even put one of the duplicated armchairs in the drawing room downstairs, telling the children to just play tag around it, because it was time the adults had a proper place to sit while supervising.

"It actually looks nice enough in here to invite someone over," Draco said. "I can't thank you enough Harry."

"Well you can thank me by taking the children to get measured for dress robes for me. The weekend's over and I have to work tomorrow, but those robes can't wait until next weekend."

"Going out with eight children is a _lot_ of work Harry; I didn't think I would survive the visit to Azkaban a couple of weeks ago. But with the house looking this nice, I can have Madam Tatting come here. I know she does house calls still," Draco replied.

"Great!"

"You'll have to leave me the money though, because my credit is none existent these days."

"We're going to have to change that. My credit is your credit now," Harry said.

"Harry, can I talk to you in the library for a minute?" Draco asked, inclining his head towards one of the doors off of the drawing room. With nine children in the house, there were always little ears listening.

Harry agreed and they went into the library. Draco shut the door behind them, sealing them off from the prying eyes of children.

Harry looked around. The library wasn't nearly as shabby as the rest of the house, which was probably due to the fact that the children weren't allowed to play in here. Half of the built in shelves were filled with books, which was surprising.

"The Ministry let you keep all of these books?" Harry asked.

"Yes, well most of them can't physically be removed from the room and the others are all on the history of the Malfoy family. There's not much money in the history of someone else's family, now is there? And let me tell you, they're at least half fiction, because Armand Malfoy's portrait denies half of the stuff Nicholas Malfoy wrote about him. Nicholas Malfoy's portrait insists it makes a better story the way he wrote it though."

"Right. What did you want to come in here for?" Harry asked.

"I wanted to talk to you about everything you're doing for us. I really appreciate it, but I won't be your charity case. We're not a real couple and you didn't agree to these children, so I won't have you signing over your vaults to me or anything else like that. Can you imagine the howlers I'd get if I did? Lord Malfoy scamming Savior Potter."

"You didn't agree to these kids either, but we've got them. I said this before and I meant it: my children are going to be just as well off as I am. It's my money and I'll spend every last knut of it on my kids if I want to."

"Alright, I'm just saying you don't _have_ to. I'm not asking you to and I'm definitely not making you."

"Got it. Now I can either add you to my Gringotts vault or transfer funds into your vault."

"Transfer, please. I don't want you worrying that I spent too much."

"If you need something, I'll get it for you."

"Thank you."

"And I'm getting a lot from you in return. You're the one taking care of them most of the time and I'll need you to do some of the errands too."

"Like what? I already agreed to get them fitted for robes, but we've got a busy schedule as it is. Those warming charms on the crops don't cast themselves. The older children have school and the little ones require a lot of care."

"I need you to take them and get proper birth certificates. I need official papers to refile my taxes and to put them on my health insurance."

"Alright, I'll work on it, but I need money for that too. I looked into it before and there are filing fees and a visit with a healer to assure they'll real and mine," Draco said.

"That's fine; I'll get the money transferred to your vault. Let's get back out there and see what the kids are up to," Harry suggested.

They walked back into the drawing room full of playing children. Lyra came up to Harry and flung herself at his legs.

"Daddy, this is like a fairwytale isn't it?" Lyra asked.

"How's that Lyra?" Harry asked.

"Because we're poor, then the king shows up and we're really princes and princesses. We don't go to live in the castle, but you turn our house into a castle," Lyra answered.

"That's a good idea for a story Ly. You should make me a picture book with it at school," Draco suggested.

"That's a great idea Father! Do you think Gran'mother will let me have a whole roll of par'ment to make it?" she asked hopefully.

"Tell you what Ly, I'll bring home an entire scroll of parchment from work tomorrow just for you," Harry said, placing a soft kiss on Lyra's messy hair.

* * *

Author's Note: So what did you think? Harry is officially the dad! Yay!

Up next is the Ministry gala and the big reveal to the wizarding world. What do you think the children are going to think of the event and all of the new people? The youngest six have never even left the Manor before.

Please review!


	9. Chapter 9

"Harry, I don't think I'm going to the gala. You take the children and go without me," Draco said.

It was the day of the big event. The gala wasn't until the evening, but with nine children to get ready, they were starting the baths and laying out the dress robes now. There were nine, because he had Teddy too; he wanted to show up with all nine of them together, so that Teddy wouldn't feel left out. Teddy was his son too.

"But Draco, I can't handle nine children by myself! I already promised Teddy I'd take him; I always take him. And I want to show my kids off to everyone. There's absolutely no way I can handle Carina and Aries. Even Cyg is little enough that he might get lost in the crowd!"

"Your Weasley friends will be there and I'm sure they know how to wipe drool off of a baby and keep a toddler from sticking his fingers in the cake. What's the point of letting them all come over if you can't call on them to help at a gala?"

Harry had invited Ron, Hermione, Arthur, and Molly over to meet his children. They'd been surprised, Hermione less so than the others, to learn that he was the father but good natured about it. They were upset over the breakup with Ginny, but wanted to get to know Harry's children, incorporate themselves into their lives, and make up for lost time. They also knew how hard it was to give adequate attention to every child with such a large family and were keen to help fill in.

Molly was particularly pleased at gaining access to more young children, because the five grandchildren she had weren't nearly enough. Arthur too was willing to take up the grandfatherly role, considering Harry his son. He was particularly pleased to learn there were a number of boys and that it wouldn't be all tea parties and tiaras. He spent his visit with Cyg and Aries hunting for bugs outside with a real muggle net, bug collection box, and magnifying glass. Molly spent her time with Cassy and Carina, playing dress-up and dollies.

Ron, like his dad, was more interested in the boys and related to them the best. He'd struck up a bit of a bond with Cael already, despite his initial dislike of the Draco look-a-like. Once he realized that the resemblance was only skin deep and that Cael was his biggest fan, wanting to play Aurors and Dark Wizards with him, Ron was sold. Scorp wanted in on the game and Ron had gotten on with him as well. Hermione had taken an interest in Brax and Lyra. Brax was the only one not bored to tears over her stories about her work with house elf rights. Lyra, with her Potter hair and lack of grace, reminded Hermione of herself, even if that was where the similarity ended. Lyra was extremely kind, nurturing, and above all else a tomboy, but not particularly bookish. Harry was relieved when Hermione didn't hold it against Lyra that she'd ditched Hermione in favor of Ron and the boys.

Harry of course thought it had gone splendidly and killed two birds with one stone in that the Weasleys had gotten to meet the children and Draco and Narcissa had gotten a break. He suggested inviting his other friends and some of the other Weasleys over the weekend after next, but didn't get the response he'd been expecting. Draco had barely kept himself together with four strange people in his house and absolutely freaked when Harry suggested more strangers.

Draco was paranoid about what the Weasleys must think of him and thought that they must blame him. Either he should have known Harry was the father, should've had abortions, or should've never let the Dark Lord near him in the first place. Harry had had to assure Draco that neither he nor the Weasleys thought any of that and that they just wanted to help out and spend time with the kids. Eventually Draco had calmed down, but only after Harry promised that there wouldn't be any new guests for a while.

"But the kids don't know them well. They barely know me. And since when do you trust your kids to the Weasleys? Aren't you worried that Hermione's dirty blood might rub off on them?" Harry didn't want to encourage Draco's previous pureblood beliefs to resurface, but he wanted to attend a Ministry function alone with nine children even less.

"No, I think her blood is just fine these days. I'm much more worried about Ronald Weasley's manners. What if my children come home eating with their mouths open and their elbows on the table? Or speaking like urchin? Or worse?" Draco shuddered at the thought. "It's bad enough they started sounding like Teddy."

Teddy had been over to visit five times now and the way he spoke was starting to rub off on the Malfoy children. Harry didn't have a problem with Teddy's speech; his godson was only seven and a half and acted like it. But Draco thought Teddy's grasp of the English language was on par with Cyg or maybe even Cassy. Teddy had a limited vocabulary and tended to overuse certain words, such as got. Sometimes it seemed as if Teddy used the G-word in every sentence, which just wasn't acceptable to Draco.

Draco used to tolerate the occasional got, but last weekend he'd blown up and banned the G-word from Malfoy Manor. With nine kids and four Weasleys in the house, he heard it one too many times and couldn't stand it anymore. Consequentially, Harry was now supposed to gently remind Teddy not to use that word whenever he slipped, which was frequently. The other children were receiving regular reminders too, but they'd grown up in a house where a certain level of grammar was expected and weren't in the habit of over-using the G-word.

"Right, we can't have that happening, so you better come along then," Harry said.

"No, I'm not going."

"What? Why? What about the urchin thing?" Harry didn't really know what Draco meant by the urchin comment, but he was pretty sure he'd eaten with his elbows on the table and talked with his mouth full just a few hours ago when they all ate breakfast together. It was best not to go with a rule he himself was guilty of breaking.

"If it comes to that it'll be elocution lessons and regular scolding until it stops. You seem to be willing to fling money at all our other problems; an elocution tutor once a week isn't that costly."

From Harry's experience, the new Draco with eight kids had a phobia of flinging money at problems, because of the past seven years without money. It was a pretty big deal for Draco to suggest such a thing now.

"Draco, what's really going on? I know you still haven't left this house, even though I've bought the kids proper cloths. Yes, you had that seamstress come here for robe fittings, but you didn't take any of the kids to St. Mungo's to start the official paperwork on them. Are you afraid to leave this house?"

"Leaving per se, no, leaving with nine children in tow, yes."

"Why? I can handle Teddy and you've taken eight all of the way to Azkaban. That's a horrible boat trip and a long walk even after the floo." There was no apparition on the island, for security reasons. Key guards were allowed to floo in, but new employees, lesser guards, and visitors had to take the boat.

"Portkey, actually."

"What?"

"There are too many of us to fit on the boat, so they arrange a portkey for us."

"Still, portkeying children isn't easy. The little ones must cry."

"They do, but I go through the hassle, because it's the only way to visit my father. My father won't be at your little gala, or I would go."

Draco was protesting a little too much without nearly enough reason. Harry thought Draco should be excited for the chance to show off his new set of dress robes Harry had paid for. The kids would be dressed nicer than ever for the occasion, so it couldn't be that. And then a reason for Draco's refusal occurred to Harry.

"No one besides my friends and family know about the kids, do they?" Harry asked.

"Technically Andromeda is my family, not yours."

"That's beside the point. You've still not told anyone."

"That's not true; I owled my friends last week."

"That's not nearly enough; the world still doesn't know. It's coming out tonight. I won't keep them hidden away anymore. Come tomorrow morning the wizarding world is going to know that Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy have eight children together."

"And I don't envy you explaining that. What are you going to say? No wait, don't tell me; save it for my morning paper. I'll hear about it in the hate mail and howlers, but just the same, I think I'll send my mother out to pick one up. It'll look nice in my scrapbook."

"The truth. That I didn't know I was the father, but a paternity test proved it was me all along."

"And how do you explain the six children no one knows I had? Hmm?"

"Ah, do I really have to explain that? It's not like I wrote the papers and deliberately left it out. I'm not on record saying you only have two kids. I didn't lie about it."

"I certainly went out of my way to deceive everyone."

"Well we'll cover that up if it really bothers you. I'll talk to Andy and have her lie for you. She'll say she knew you had the kids all along and that you weren't hiding it; it was just that no one bothered to check up on you."

"I've been checked up on loads of time. Twice now low level officials have shown up here to inspect the place. Mother took the little ones camping in the forest for the day and I moved the extra beds and baby stuff to the attic apartment, so they wouldn't suspect anything. And I receive regular letters from your boss asking about this allegation or that. Instead of admitting that there was no way I could be smuggling dragon dung across Albania because I was nine months pregnant with Cassy, I lied and said I was home with just two children at the time."

"Someone accused you of smuggling dragon dung across Albania?" Harry sniggered and couldn't help the laugh that burst forth.

"Yes. I'll have you know it's a lucrative trade, because it's used in potions and as dragon bait by poachers."

"I'm an Auror, I know all about dragon poachers. But you have to admit it's funny."

"I'm glad my legal problems amuse you."

"Sorry, but back to the point. No one specifically questioned you regarding how many children you have, right?"

"Not that I recall."

"Then you didn't blatantly lie; you lied by omission. I can cover that up easily enough or change the subject. If they ask why the birth certificates were never filed, I can blame your finances and the filing fee." It would certainly be harder for Harry than if Draco hadn't lied, but he didn't think that it'd be a major problem. His main concern was not having Draco around to help him with the kids.

"Right, well I'll start leaving the house _after_ the storm dies down."

"Draco! Come on, I need your help tonight."

"I'm pregnant Harry, I don't feel like going to your little gala and being gawked at. My back is killing me and my feet are already sore; I don't need to be chasing after Aries all night."

"Fine, but don't complain to me when I bring back urchin instead of children."

"I'll wash their mouths out if it's that bad. The good thing about children is that as long as they don't die, you can fix them back up after anything; they're resilient."

That settled it, because Draco wouldn't budge. "Fine, I'll go owl Andy, Hermione, Ron, and maybe Molly too," Harry conceded, before sitting down to write. In Andy's letter, he included his request that she pretend she knew about the younger six Malfoy kids all along; hopefully her word would be enough cover.

Molly wrote back that she, Ron, Arthur, and Hermione would meet him there, near the floo. Andy wrote back her agreement with his request and that she'd floo to the Manor to help Harry get the children across. He was very grateful for Andy's help, because without Draco or Narcissa, he needed the help.

Harry requested the maximum of ten tickets for the evening and acquired an extra one off of Hermione; one for each of the kids, Draco, and himself. He could've put in a special request for extra tickets, but those were due six months in advance and had to be approved. Since he didn't have a ticket for Narcissa, she hadn't planned on going. Now that Draco wasn't going, Narcissa could've taken his ticket, but she already had other plans. It was not often that she had a free evening and she was taking advantage of it to have a night out with her pureblood old lady friends. She was, however, there to help them get the children ready.

Narcissa and Draco finished dressing the children and deposited them in the drawing room. Lyra's hair had an extra strong styling charm on it tonight, making it hard to the touch, but combined with the poufy ivory colored gown, it created the visual look of a princess. That and Narcissa had added a barrowed tiara to her head. Cassy's gown was ivory too and just as extravagant looking, with lace roses along the waist and real ivory colored roses weaved into her coiffed hair. Cassy, though younger, was the more graceful of the two and carried herself like a real princess. Carina's dress was shorter, but ivory with a poufy skirt. The baby was on the round, chubby side and the puffy lace emphasized that point.

The boys all looked dashing in forest green dress robes trimmed with ivory colored edging. The Malfoy crest was embroidered in crème above the left breast and they each had brand new crème colored loafers. Brax had his blond hair perfectly styled, while the rest of the boys all had new extra short haircuts, so that they wouldn't look sloppy. Cael had complained about having to have his hair cut when Brax didn't, but Brax could manage his hair and Cael didn't seem to know what a comb was. Draco said it was either slicking it back or cutting it and Harry ruled for cutting it, because of his dislike of hair grease.

Meanwhile Harry was running around, making sure he had everything he needed for the evening in the one nappy bag. There wasn't just the one baby who needed nappies and bottles; Aries would definitely need a change of clothes to eat in and a spare nappy. A spare pair of underpants for the barely potty-trained Cyg was always a good idea. With Lyra a hair-crisis was a frequent occurrence, hence the need for a hat and brush. All of these things Harry gathered into the nappy bag.

Harry thought he had everything ready to go, but then he realized he'd forgotten his watch and cufflinks and had to run back upstairs to grab them. In ensuring that he was prepared for having the children, he'd neglected to finish dressing himself.

While Harry was upstairs, Andy flooed into the drawing room.

"Harry, Gran's here. We gotta go!" Teddy called up to him, just like he would've done at home.

"Teddy, first of all gotta is not a word. It's got to. Secondly, I told you about saying got. Third, we do not yell up the stairs, but walk up and quietly fetch the required wizard," Draco corrected.

"What am I 'posed to say?" Teddy asked.

"The word is supposed. You are supposed to say have. We _have_ to go," Draco explained patiently.

Teddy rolled his eyes at that.

"Teddy, we do not roll our eyes in this house," Draco warned sternly. "It's very disrespectful. Now I have been more than patient with you and haven't even given you a timeout for language yet, but it is coming. Eye rolling, however, will have you confined to the third floor landing for an hour. Cael can tell you all about the third floor landing; he was just there yesterday."

"Teddy, didn't we talk about this?" Andy asked, stepping forward and taking her grandson by the shoulder. "You need to listen and be respectful in Lord Malfoy's manor."

"Yes, but Gran, all I did was roll m' eyes," Teddy whined.

"Whining is also not tolerated," Draco added. "Are you tired Teddy? In this house children who whine lie down and take a nap."

"No, I'm bored," Teddy replied, but stood up straighter.

"What's going on down here?" Harry asked, coming down the stairs while fastening his cufflinks.

"Teddy needs to work on the G-word some more and he's not used to the strict rules of the Manor," Andy answered.

"Andy, even two-year-old Cassy has learned to follow our rules; perhaps it's time you were stricter yourself," Narcissa said sagely. Sure Cassy whined occasionally, but only when she was tired and then she was put down for a nap.

"Right, well we don't have time for this discussion right now. Come on, we have to go," Harry said, motioning everyone towards the floo.

Harry had had this talk with Draco before, but was completely shot down. Harry had one child, Teddy, for an average of one day per week. Draco had eight children seven days a week. The two situations couldn't be handled the same. Without rigid discipline and the children jumping to do as they are told the first time they are told, one person could never manage it. Draco's punishments were mild anyway, with most offenses receiving a short timeout and there was never any corporal punishment. Still there would be a lot less punishment if Harry had his way. But since Harry was late to the game and the rules already established, he didn't seem likely to get his way.

Harry picked up Aries and grabbed hold of Cassy's hand, but he fumbled the nappy bag. While Draco helped Harry, Andy took Carina through the floo, to wait for the rest of the children on the other side. Harry went through second.

Cassy was screaming almost as soon as they stepped into the fire.

"Daddy! Save me!" Cassy cried through her tears, holding onto Harry's legs for dear life. Through it all, she maintained her perfect hair and didn't squash the roses against his robes.

"I got you Cassy," Harry said reassuringly, picking his daughter up with his free arm.

Aries patted Cassy on the back and said, "Dare Dare Cas," before beginning to sing a song. The words were garbled, making it sound more like humming, but Harry recognized the tune as one Draco sang to the children.

"We're here," Harry announced moments later, stepping out of the floo. "See, we're here. There was never anything to worry about; it's just the floo."

"Fi'wer gonna get us," Cassy said through her tears, although it was difficult to hear her, because Aries had picked that moment to start screaming loudly.

"Here, let me take him, Harry," Andy said, stepping forward to take the toddler off of Harry's hands.

Molly was already there holding Carina with Arthur by her side. Andy had passed the baby off and was in perfect position to intercept Aries as Harry struggled to keep Cassy on his hip.

Harry let Aries go, which only made Aries cry more, but gave him a chance to use both hands to sooth Cassy. "That's a girl, wipe those tears away. You're Daddy's princess and Daddy needs you to look beautiful at the ball," Harry told his daughter.

"Willya tell all the peo'le I'mma princess?" Cassy asked.

"Sure will," Harry answered, just as Aries let off another particularly loud wail.

Cassy covered her ears with both hands to ward off the racket her brother was making, jostling the roses in her hair. At least she was no longer crying. "He hobeless. He cry _all_ time," Cassy told Harry.

"Harry dear, it's so good to see you and your little ones again," Molly said, bouncing Carina to calm her from the upsetting floo journey. Tears were still glistening in Carina's eyes, belying the fact that she'd cried through the journey as well.

"Yes, it's good to see you son," Arthur greeted.

"Oh here comes Teddy," Andy announced.

Harry returned the greetings and then turned towards the fireplace.

Teddy came through with Cyg. Teddy was the most experienced with floo travel, so besides the three Harry and Andy had, he was bringing the next youngest. Cyg wasn't too pleased about his first time traveling by floo and was a bit disorientated by the process. Luckily Arthur was there with his arms out to catch the dizzy toddler. Cyg's eyes were watering and he was coughing profusely, but at least he wasn't crying.

Aries was still screaming. "Here, let me give it a try," Molly said to Andy. The two witches switched babies, with Andy taking Carina and Molly taking Aries.

Scorp came through the floo next holding Lyra's hand, followed by Cael with Brax. Scorp and Cael both used the floo about a dozen times every year, so they had some experience with it, but Lyra and Brax were both off balance and coughing from the journey.

"That's the lot of them, isn't it?" Andy asked, taking Brax's hand and balancing Carina on her other hip.

"Yes. Molly you better let me have a try with Aries; he doesn't seem to be calming down," Harry said, putting Cassy down to take Aries.

Molly took Carina back from Andy and Andy picked Cassy up, straightening the roses in the toddler's hair. Harry bounced and rocked Aries, murmuring reassuring words into his ear, but still Aries cried.

While the adults shuffled children around and tried to stop the crying, Teddy asked Cael, "What's on the third floor?"

"The third floor landing," Cael corrected, "and absolutely nothing, if you are lucky. I wasn't lucky. Madam Loryn's portrait was there." Even if the portrait wasn't there, the punishment was rather miserable, because there was absolutely nothing to do up in the empty room all by oneself.

"Who's Madam Loryn?" Teddy asked in reply.

"Some hor'ble old schoolmar'; she's a nigh'mare with her rules of proper grammar and ed'kit. Trust me, you don't wanta get sent there."

Teddy nodded and made a mental note to try harder. He loved Malfoy Manor, he just didn't like all of the rules.

Harry tried singing Aries a song, like Draco often did, but had no success. "I don't understand; he never cries like this for Draco," Harry said exasperated.

"Perhaps you better take him back home," Molly replied, Lyra by her side. "The first floo travel can be upsetting."

"Father won't like tha'. Lemme try," Lyra said, pulling away from Molly.

Harry didn't think Lyra would be able to do what none of the adults could do, but he knew he had to give her a chance to try. At Malfoy Manor the older children often looked after the younger ones. He'd seen Brax do amazing things with a brush to the other children's hair and he'd seen Lyra sooth many a tear away, while Scorp was good at keeping them in line and playing nicely together. Lyra was especially good with the youngest two and had a fondness for babies. That was a good thing, given the size of the family she was born into.

Harry put Aries down on the floor in front of Lyra's open arms. She hugged her brother and started singing a pureblood lullaby in a soothing voice; the same lullaby Aries had sung to Cassy minutes before. Aries stopped screaming almost immediately and his tears slowly stopped trickling down his face.

"I tried that!" Harry protested. It just wasn't fair that Draco had left him to take care of all of the children alone.

"You didn't try the right song. It has to be the one Father sings to us," Brax said with a shrug.

"Right, well we best get a move on. Ron and Hermione are around here somewhere," Arthur said.

Harry picked Aries back up and told Lyra to stay with him. Molly told Cael to stay with her and Baby Carina. Andy had Brax and Cassy. Arthur took Cyg, Teddy, and Scorp. And then the group made their way into the party. Harry saw Ron's red hair sticking out over the crowd and steered the group in that direction. Hermione bustled in and took Lyra's and Brax's hands, giving Andy and Harry more hands to deal with the toddlers. Cael and Teddy left their adults in favor of Ron, evening out the child to adult distribution.

Harry noticed the stares and whispers. Every head in the place seemed to be on them, looking over each and every child. The kids were impeccably dressed, Draco and Narcissa saw to that before letting them out of the Manor, so that couldn't be why they were drawing attention.

"Pardon me," Kingsley Shacklebolt's booming voice called out and then Kingsley's impressive figure cut through the crowd. "Ah Harry, who have you brought with you tonight?"

"My children Minister," Harry replied with a smile and then began introductions, calling the children by only their first names, because he still didn't have all of their middle names straight.

"Wonderful. And if you don't mind my asking, where did you get all of these children from? I recognize Teddy and several of the others do look just like you, but you haven't mentioned children before. I thought you were with Ginny," Kingsley said.

"We broke up. These are my children with Draco Malfoy. He's recently agreed to let me take them out in public. He was afraid they might be gawked at, if he were to let them go out. Sort of like what is happening now," Harry replied.

"So sorry about that Harry, but people are curious you know. If you took the stage and made an announcement, it might help alleviate the gossip. Or it could backfire and jump start it; you never know," Kingsley advised.

"I'll take the stage. My little princess asked to be formally introduced to my adoring public," Harry replied, inclining his head towards Cassy.

"And what a beautiful princess she is! And what's that, another princess over there and a third in Molly's arms? However did you become so lucky?" Kingsley asked jovially. He was good with kids.

And so Harry took the stage in front of the dinner tables. It was nothing more than a raised pulpit for Kingsley to make his short before dinner speech, but it would have to do. He removed the lectern, so that the shorter children could be seen. Then he gave a brief and very lacking explanation, before calling up his children one at a time, including Teddy, to make formal introductions to the wizarding world. Then he asked the crowd to please let him and his children enjoy the gala without bothering or questioning them. Some of the people respected his wishes, but the reporters did not. He had to promise one reporter an interview in hopes of getting the lot to back off, but that didn't work.

Rita Skeeter managed to worm her way to the forefront, right up next to the children. "How long have you known Harry Potter was your daddy?" she asked the children.

"I've known all along," Scorp replied, being one of the closest kids to her.

That statement only fanned the flame of questions, half of which had to do with the fact that there were six more Malfoy children than the Ministry had birth certificates for. Accusations of hiding the children were thrown at Harry along with everything else the reporters could think of, none of which were things he wanted his children to hear. He wanted to protect the kids from the onslaught, but that was a difficult task and he wished Draco was there to help him. Add in the fact that Aries had started crying again and it was mayhem.

Harry couldn't help but think that maybe this wouldn't be such a big deal, if Draco had just come out and admitted the existence of the children from the beginning. If only Draco had more courage, this story wouldn't be half so big. But Draco had never had much courage and he'd been through a lot. It was enough that Draco had done such a splendid job raising the children; asking him to brave public scrutiny on top of it all was too much. Thus Harry had to remind himself not to be too cross at Draco for putting him in this situation, because after all, Draco had had so little control over it.

One of the nice things about the Weasleys, is that there are a lot of them and they protect their own. By this point, Ginny, Bill, George, Angelina, and even Percy were making their way towards Harry, having left Bill and Percy's wives behind to watch their own five children. Harry's friends Neville Longbottom and Seamus Finnigan stepped forward to help, as well as Draco's friends Theo Nott and Blaise Zabini. Then there were the Aurors who volunteered to help. Together they surrounded the children and isolated them from the reporters. Plus Harry threatening bodily harm to Skeeter if she didn't back away from his kids immediately seemed to have a positive effect on keeping the other reporters in line.

It was difficult, but the large group was able to slowly migrate out to the atrium, Harry all the while trying to sing a song he barely knew in hopes of quieting his youngest son. There was a small garden in the atrium there and Kingsley gave permission for it to be closed off, to give Harry and the children some space. The wives and children of the men who had come to their rescue were allowed in, swelling their numbers further. The Malfoy children had some opportunities to mingle with the other children, but mostly Harry kept them close by his side, especially Lyra, who was helping him sing to Aries.

Then Daphne Nott, Theo Nott's wife, came bustling up with an eighteen-month-old in her arms and a three-year-old clinging to her skirts. "Here, let me calm him. Aries is it? Auntie Daphne can sing the dragon song as well as anyone," she said and began to sing. She had a lovely calming voice.

With Lyra and Harry's singing, Aries had stopped screaming, but he was still quietly sobbing, tears streaming down his cheeks. Now he reached his little arms out to this strange lady he'd never met, as if he wanted to be picked up. Daphne put her own son down and reached out for Aries. Her husband had come to their aid fending off the reporters and Draco counted the Nott's amongst his friends, so Harry handed his son over. Aries laid his head down on her bosom as she sang, closing his eyes and drifting off to sleep.

"My husband and I were close with Draco in school. He pushed us away like everyone else, but still wrote occasionally. We were shocked beyond belief last week when he wrote us with the news. I wrote back asking if we could come over for a visit, but he declined. I had the impression that he was overwhelmed with it all. He mentioned you planned on bringing them tonight, so Theo and I had to come."

What Daphne said fit perfectly with what Harry knew about Draco. Draco had been close with the Notts, especially Daphne, and had recently been considering inviting them over to the Manor. Draco hadn't yet gotten up the courage to do it and after seeing how good Daphne was with her own two children as well as his too, he was going to encourage him to do so. She had a sweet little three-year-old girl and a shy little boy Aries' age and would fit right in.

Harry thanked Daphne for her and her husband's help and allowed her to take his sleeping toddler over to a nearby bench to sit. Lyra went with her, not wanting to leave her baby brother with someone she didn't know. Harry turned his attention to his remaining children and the crowd of witches and wizards that didn't know them, but should.

Harry was in the middle of individually introducing the children to the rest of the Weasleys when the announcement came that Kingsley was ready to start his before dinner speech. They waited until the majority of guests were already seated and the speech was ending, before the lot of them went back inside. Harry wasn't at the head table with Minister Shacklebolt and the Wizengamot, but it seemed as if all eyes were on his table as he and the Weasleys sat down with their children. A few Aurors volunteered to stand duty around the table, to rebuff the reporters, while the rest of their entourage took their designated seats.

Daphne handed Aries back to Harry to take her own seat and the toddler woke during the transfer. He patted Aries to make sure the tears weren't going to start back up. Dinner was served and everyone dug in. He removed his son's dress robes, slipping Aries into a plain set of robes that he wouldn't mind being destroyed, and added a large bib. Then he put Aries into the booster seat next to him. He cut the toddler's food up into small pieces and handed his son a baby spoon. Aries took the spoon and reached out with his free hand to grab a piece of chicken, which he ate with a smile. Harry was hopeful that the earlier fit was just due to hunger and that he'd have no more problems through dinner, so he turned to his own plate to eat.

It was impossible to say who started it, put when Harry's turned back, Aries and Little Fred had slipped under the table to play. George pulled the barely three-year-old Fred up, sat him back down, and ordered him to eat. Harry tried to do the same with Aries, but his son was half of Fred's age and didn't yet know how to behave at the dinner table. He knew Aries didn't behave like this at home with Draco, but then Draco always strapped the toddler into the highchair for mealtimes. The gala didn't have highchairs and Aries' booster seat simply wasn't able to adequately restrain him. They only had booster seats and the type of babyseat that hooks on the edge of the table here, not proper highchairs. Hooking Carina onto the edge of the table was alright, but Aries was too big for that.

Arthur Weasley volunteered to take Aries outside for a walk so that the rest of them could enjoy their meal. Percy Weasley's youngest daughter Molly was about the same age and not doing too much better with the arrangement, so Percy took her out as well. And since the reporters were still around, a few Aurors went with them.

Harry very much appreciated the help, but was embarrassed by his son's behavior. Then he looked over at Cyg, who was the same age as Fred, and eating quietly. Cyg had his utensils in the correct hands, with his meat cut up into neat little chunks and everything. Cassy had struggled with her meat, but one of the adults had helped her and was otherwise eating like a proper little princess. All of the other Malfoy children too were eating like well-trained pureblood children, making the Weasley children look like heathens in comparison. Ron, given that he was an adult, looked particularly bad shoveling down his food. Thus Harry started to think that maybe it wasn't such a big deal if one child out of the bunch had acted up.

Before the end of dinner, Carina was asleep, resting her head on Molly's bosom. The five-month-old was eating mashed foods, which Molly had spoon fed her. The baby was yawning by the time Molly was cleaning her up, hence her current state of slumber. The group migrated back to the atrium, joining Arthur and Percy with the toddlers for a bit of after dinner chat. Aries was asleep again, this time on Arthur's shoulder, emphasizing the fact that having young children around was old hat to the Weasley patriarch.

The Aurors let in several more of Harry's closest acquaintances and he continued to make introductions to his children. Cassy was dead on her feet, leaning into Harry's side, clutching his robes with her eyes closed, barely waving when Harry called her name. The other children didn't seem to want to stay put, always running off to play tag. Harry grew used to picking the children out of the moving mass to name them although he did on occasion resort to just naming the group and not pointing the individuals out. Bill and Percy's daughters Victoire, Domonique, and Lucy, along with George's Fred had joined in the mix, so there were even more children than usual.

"Ow!" Lyra cried as she fell. She scrapped her knee, breaking open her tights, which had been put on her in the first place to cover up her scraped knees. "Daddy!"

Harry rushed over to his daughter, performing charms to clean and bandage the wound. "No more tag tonight," he declared to a round of complaints from the children.

The group of children broke apart and began looking for other things to do. Brax latched himself onto Angelina, whom Fred had just gotten away from. She was married to George now, with just one young son.

"Wow! I love your hair," Brax exclaimed. "Can I touch it?

"Yeah, alright," Angelina replied, bending down to let Brax reach.

"Brilliant. Do you think you could teach me how to do hair like yours?" Brax asked.

"I don't think your hair is quite long enough," Angelina replied.

"Not on me, silly. I want to do Lyra's hair like this! What's it called?"

"Braids. Which one is Lyra again?"

"My oldest sister. She lets me do her hair," Brax said with a shrug.

"Alright, well next time you and Lyra come over to the Burrow when I'm there, I'll teach you," Angelina offered. "But now I have to get little Fred home to bed."

It was growing late, so Harry was bundling up his children too. This time around it was harder, because the children were sleeping, injured, or exhausted. But it was made easier by Ron, Hermione, Arthur, and Molly, who along with Harry and Andy, each took an exhausted child. The oldest three were still made to travel alone without an adult, but Teddy, Scorp, and Cael made it back to the Manor in one piece.

* * *

Author's Note: I'm having particular trouble nailing Carina down, because she's so little. I want her to be talented in some way, but as the baby girl of the lot, she'll also be the over indulged one. Still I want her to be smart and likeable, and not the Pansy Parkinson of the bunch, although she will be best friends with Pansy's daughter. If there's anyone who thinks they have a handle on who Carina is and what makes her special, let me know.

It might help you to know who the other children are, so here is a short list:

Scorp is the leader, bold, daring, and calculating Slytherin (Draco). Cael is the brave reckless Gryffindor who likes to go on dangerous adventures (Harry). Brax is gay, stylish, smart, morally conscious, and a Ravenclaw (Draco/Hermione). Lyra is the caring tom-boy, who prefers to be with the boys; I'm thinking she'd make a good healer and mother (Hermione/Lily). Cyg is the classic Hufflepuff middle child; mediocre at everything, excels at nothing, except for his business partnership with Fred Weasley II (George/Ron). Cassy is the graceful Slytherin girly-girl, with a knack for fashion, style, and dancing (Narcissa). Aries is the gay, backwards, musical, artistic Slytherin who dances to the beat of his own drum (Luna). The new baby will also be a Ravenclaw genius, but of a different flavor; invents spells, good at potions, and the reluctant hero (Snape).

But who will Carina be? I have some of the pieces, but what should she be good at or enjoy doing? Who do you see her as? Which house will she be in? What is her magical specialty? There are metamorphmagi (Tonks and Teddy), animagi (James and Sirius), and parselmouths (Harry) in the family, so maybe she could have an extra magical ability, but what would it be? If she does have one, I want it to be something different. She'll be stunning with her blond hair and green eyes and be the most intelligent of the three girls, but what else is there to her? What type of job will she have when she grows up? Who will she be like?


	10. Chapter 10

**Eight Potter/Malfoy Love Children at Ministry Gala**

That was the headline of the next morning's Daily Prophet. The article went on to tell a completely fabricated story about Auror Harry Potter and Lord Draco Malfoy's secret and long lasting affair. It started in nineteen ninety-seven back when Scorpius Malfoy was mysteriously conceived during the war. It continued in nineteen ninety-eight when Caelum Malfoy was conceived inside the Ministry holding facility; Harry's insistent searching for the father was an elaborate cover-up all along. After Draco Malfoy was released in nineteen ninety-nine, the affair went on behind Ginny Weasley's back; likely made easier by Ginny Weasley's intensive touring schedule with the Holyhead Harpies. The affair continued right up until present, with a new child born every year to the couple.

It was all hushed up, so that Harry Potter could keep the affair secret from his long term girlfriend, Ginevra Weasley. The cover up had only ended now, because Ginevra Weasley had walked in on Draco Malfoy and Harry Potter in the mist of their lovemaking. Ginevra Weasley had called off her looming wedding to Harry Potter the moment she found out, which was why Harry Potter was coming forward with the children now. Draco Malfoy was not present at the gala, because he was very heavily pregnant with Harry Potter's triplets. It was supported by Scorpius Malfoy's quote that he knew all along, which was offset in enlarged letters, so that the eyes of anyone just glancing at the article would jump to it. It was written by Rita Skeeter and came complete with a dozen photos of Harry and the children during the gala.

That was the first of a long list of Malfoy children centered news articles. It was followed up by more speculation and more photos from the gala. The Quibbler was the first to break the news that Harry Potter had only cheated on Ginevra Weasley once with Draco Malfoy. The torrid love affair had conceived Scorpius Malfoy, but the other children were all the result of a runaway male pregnancy ritual. It was unheard of for more than an extra two children to be produced, but when dealing with Harry Potter, the exception was to be expected. Harry Potter had agreed to the male pregnancy ritual with his lover, because of his fear that he wouldn't survive the war; he'd wanted to leave behind an heir to finish the job if he didn't manage to kill Voldemort.

Harry decided to go with Xenophilius Lovegood's version of events, because it kept Voldemort's name out of the conception of his children, without painting him as a horrid cheat. Draco had told the children the truth about their conception and up until now, it had been widely believed that his first child had been created by Voldemort using some unknown Death Eater's semen. Draco really didn't have a problem with telling that part of the story, but Harry preferred to let people think his children were conceived in love rather than in evil. Therefore when Harry did get around to responding to reporter inquiries, he basically just confirmed Lovegood's account and said to read the Quibbler for more inside information.

Once old Rita Skeeter realized she had been scoped by a less sensational rendition of the story, she dug up everything she could find out about the Malfoy children. There were records of Scorpius and Caelum Malfoy. Yearly photographs of the oldest two Malfoy children turned up revealing children who looked healthy and happy, if a bit poor. The children were always dressed their best when they went out, so there was nothing too horrible in the photos. It was clear, however, that the Malfoy children were quite poor and that Harry Potter was not properly providing for them.

From there Rita Skeeter only got more vicious. The hag actually managed to get interviews with the guards of Azkaban prison who had seen the Malfoy children visiting Lucius Malfoy. The dementors were gone, so there were proper wizards guarding the prisoners now. Those guards had witnessed eight very shabby looking children arrive into the Azkaban yard via a special portkey. The consensus from the guards seemed to be that all of the Malfoys showed up in rags twice a year to visit Lucius Malfoy. At least no one had taken any pictures of it.

"I remember one year I saw Lord Malfoy with a little black haired baby. Its hair was a mess, but the clothes looked presentable, that's why I remembered it. It was a yellow set of pajamas with a duck on the front, nothing fancy and it didn't look new, but it wasn't too bad. Then the next year Lord Malfoy came back with a new black haired baby, wearing the same pajamas! It wasn't the same kid, because the other one was there too and a year older. The following year, Lord Malfoy came back with a third black haired baby, wearing the same pajamas. Then last year there was a little blond baby, again wearing the same yellow ducky pajamas! I swear he only had the one presentable outfit of each size and was pulling it out especially for their biannual visits," one particularly observant guard was quoted as saying.

When Harry asked Draco about it, Draco had denied taking the children out in rags, but did confirm the story about saving a few descent pieces of clothing for their excursions. The yellow pajamas were ratty now and had been retired, but luckily Harry had already given Draco new clothes for Carina before their most recent trip. Carina had been dressed in a new pink jumpsuit this year. Harry noticed that Skeeter didn't mention the fact that the Malfoys had all shown up in fairly new decent looking clothes for their latest visit.

Of course the papers blamed Harry for neglecting his children. Draco and the children were matters of public curiosity, but Harry was the one who had cheated on Ginny, abandoned Draco and the children, and left the Malfoys in squalor. It didn't matter to Skeeter and the other reporters that Harry was trying to make up for the neglect now by buying the children everything they needed. Now Ginny knew his secret, so it didn't matter if he doted on the children; before, when he was keeping the children locked away and out of sight, that was what really counted.

What bothered Harry the most was the article that accused him of defrauding the Ministry. During all of these years without Harry around Draco had received twenty galleons per month and medical insurance for Caelum. As Cael's biological father, Harry should have been paying for that all along, not footing it off on the Ministry to pay. Of course Harry didn't know he was Cael's father at the time and now he was perfectly willing to repay the Ministry, but he refused to explain to the papers why he had done it in the first place.

After the article in the Quibbler, Harry had confirmed that he had willingly and knowingly created Scorpius with Draco. Maybe Harry might have been confused when Caelum came along without repeating the ritual, but after Abraxas was born in a year Draco hadn't been raped or tortured by anyone, Harry really should have figured out that Cael and Brax, like Scorp, were his. Harry didn't want everyone to know that Draco had kept the existence of the youngest six children from him, so instead he stewed in silence and left the papers to speculate.

Of course Harry's boss wanted to see him after that particular Skeeter classic. Bourke Covington was the new head Auror and had only been in the position half a year now. He was Harry's old partner from his training days and Bourke said he couldn't be seen playing favorites with Harry. Of course Bourke didn't think that Harry was guilty of fraud and believed Harry that it was all a misunderstanding. Harry agreed to get it cleared up and if he did, Bourke would leave it at that.

Getting the child support debt cleared turned out to be complicated and involved a ton of forms. Harry ended up hiring his regular tax attorney, Mr. Shafiq, to do it for him, especially because he needed his past six years of taxes re-filed with more dependents. By the time Mr. Shafiq got it all added up and the proper forms filled out, it worked out that the Ministry actually owed Harry back far more money in over-collected taxes than Harry owed in past child support payments. The medical insurance canceled itself out, because as a Ministry employee, Harry's children were entitled to Ministry health insurance.

Tonight when Harry arrived at the Malfoy Manor after a long day of detective work at the Ministry, Draco was waiting for him with Aries on his hip, who was nursing. Aries didn't nurse much, but he still drank from Draco at least once a day. The other children were all outside, playing on the playground or riding their bikes, except for Carina, who was in the muggle toy seat playing.

"Harry, I think I should tell you about something," Draco said as Harry leaned in and gave Aries a kiss on his head.

Draco was just starting to show and Harry almost reached his hand out to touch the swell of his unborn child, but he stopped himself before it was too late. Ever since the rape at the Ministry, Draco didn't like being touched, especially by men. Narcissa and the children could touch Draco without a reaction, but not even they dared being too touchy feely with him. Harry had asked Narcissa about it and she had confirmed that Draco still gets overwhelmed by too much touching, even from them, but that Draco absolutely can't stand to be touched by strange men, even briefly on the hand. Draco hadn't come into contact with very many men since the rape, but there were the two visitors from the Ministry and lots of guards at Azkaban whose hands Draco really should have offered to shake, but hadn't.

"Alright, what is it?" Harry asked, picking Carina up from the muggle entertainer.

If they were leaving the room without an adult, it was best to take the two babies with them. Cassy and Cyg were playing outside with the rest of the kids, but the older children could watch out for them alright. And if something did happen, Scorp and Cael were always really good about alerting an adult right away.

Draco started walking upstairs with Aries and Harry followed with Carina. "I should have refused it, I know. Malfoy pride dictates that I refuse something like this and send it back. But I haven't refused anything in so long and it _is_ just so nice that I set it up and told Cassy and Lyra they could keep it. I thought you ought to know; I'm sure you will find out soon enough anyway."

"What is it?" They were at the top of the landing now and heading right, towards the girl's room.

"I think this is partly my fault. You know how the papers started saying all of those awful things about you abandoning us to live in squalor without child support?"

"Yes, what did you do?" Harry asked warily. Draco had paused just outside of the door to the girl's room.

"Well Rita Skeeter sent me a letter, addressed to me, not you; I didn't steal your mail."

"Please tell me you didn't talk to Skeeter!" Harry exclaimed exasperated. Draco swallowed and gave a curt nod. "Why? I _hate_ that woman. I don't want you to tell her _anything_ about us."

"Well her family and my family are old friends. Her older sister went to school with my mother. She's always been good to our family and published pro-Death Eater stuff back when our family was into that sort of thing."

"Of course. And I bet her husband and your dad were old drinking buddies too or something like that. I'm sure after they left the pub they tortured muggles together for fun."

"Not quite, but you seem to have the picture."

"Great. Just great. What did you tell her?"

"Well she said she had a lot of readers who were writing in wanting to get our children gifts. The announcement of the arrival of a new pureblood is typically accompanied by gifts. All of the other pureblood families send things, trying to compete for favor and standing. With announcing six new Malfoy children and eight new Savior spawn, it's understandable that there have been such inquiries."

"Alright, gifts, right. What did you tell her you wanted?"

"I shouldn't have written it; I realized that half an hour after I sent the owl off and it was already too late. It's just that for the past six years I've taken whatever anyone has been willing to give us without complaint. I reacted on autopilot before realizing that we have you now and that it'd be better if other people didn't realize we were so bad off before."

"_What_ did you write Draco? You still haven't told me."

"I wrote her that you had just gotten our boys new furniture sets, but that our girls could use new sets too. The ones you got are nice, but they are really little boy sets. One piece of furniture is within the typical price range for the gifts and I immediately thought of it. In hindsight I should have asked for absolutely extravagant things like silver rattles and unicorn fur blankets. Maybe brooms for the older children; you know, things we don't need. But I wasn't thinking and I was still on dirt poor mode; it's harder to turn off than I thought."

"Calm down and just relax, Draco. I assume it's through this door; can I see?"

"Yes, you might as well," Draco said opening the door. Harry entered the room and looked around while Draco continued to speak. "They were mostly from your friends, so you might want to send thank you cards of your own. I've already written mine up, but I didn't send them yet."

The room was filled with a white wooden furniture set with pink heart accents painted on. There was a bunk bed complete with princess bedclothes and matching sheer pink lace curtains for the bed and windows. There were matching wardrobes, chests of drawers, bedside tables, bookshelves, and toy chests; two of each of course. The only thing there was one of in the room was a vanity desk with a large mirror; it was perfect for little princesses to play dress-up with. It was a lot of new furniture, but it was a very generously sized room and it all fit inside nicely. It made the room look better, because before it had looked empty and with Harry's duplicated furniture and Draco's duplicated linens.

"I put the other furniture up in the attic," Draco said, seemingly thinking about the same thing.

"Why? It's duplicated furniture; shouldn't you vanish it, to stabilize the other duplicates? The fewer duplicates the more stable."

"You can't just vanish a duplicate; it doesn't work like that. You can't undo the duplication charm. The items are forever linked, so that damage to one seeps in and eventually corrupts all. That's what got the toddler beds; eventually the damage sustained to each individually added up and combined to jeopardize the internal structure."

"Are you sure? I've always thought vanishing a duplicate undoes the duplication."

"No, vanishing the duplicate can lead to the original disappearing; that's what happened to the changing table. I ended up with more nappies than could fit in just one and with three babies, I thought it would be nice to put a second changing table downstairs. It was fine for years, but when Lyra was a baby it was in bad shape, because it was muggle and cheaply made. It started disintegrating, especially the one that was down in the drawing room, because the kids collided with it often. One day it broke so badly I couldn't repair it. I vanished it and duplicated the other one to replace it. There was another duplicate for a moment, before both copies flashed out of existence."

"That's too bad. I guess you've really become an expert on duplication charms."

"I had to be. After the first bed I tried to duplicate went wrong and produced a pair of beds damaged so severely that they weren't salvageable, I picked up a book on duplicating theory and taught myself."

"Which beds are you talking about? The toddler beds?"

"No, the regular single bed you brought us over from your house. It was a Black family heirloom, so Mother and I were sore to lose it, but there was nothing that could be done to salvage it. That's why we had to duplicate the large bed into three, so that we all had a place to sleep."

"Right. And you have to keep any excess duplicates?"

"Yes and keep them in a safe location, so that they aren't damaged," Draco confirmed. "But don't worry, because eventually Aries and Carina will need beds too."

"And the next one too," Harry agreed. "So who all sent this? And if it didn't come from one person, why does it all match?"

"The Lovegoods sent the first piece—the bunk bed—to thank you for supporting the Quibbler's version of events and giving them more details than the Prophet had. You helped them sell a lot of magazines and it sounded like his daughter considers you a personal friend. He wanted to show you how much he appreciates you; hence, the largest piece. The Lovegoods started it off so when the Longbottoms went in next, the owner of the shop already knew what set to sell Augusta; she bought the vanity, to thank you for all of the help you have given her grandson. The chests of drawers came from the MacDougals, who claimed to know you from work—"

Harry interrupted Draco, "Isobel MacDougal is an Auror. She was one of the junior training guards and you were always talking about how nice she was to you."

"Yes, I remember Isobel; I didn't realize she was a MacDougal."

"Yes, well it's nice of her and her family to send something."

"It is. Mrs. Shacklebolt, as in the Minister for Magic's wife, sent the wardrobes. She must like buying frilly dresses, because they each came with a few." As Draco spoke, he pulled open the doors to one of the wardrobes and revealed a neat row of fancy dresses in white, beige, yellow, pink, red, lilac, and lavender. "It's not unheard of for rich old ladies to send their favorite thing along with the gift. I think dresses really are Mrs. Shacklebolt's favorite, because there are another set of similar dresses for Cassy in the other wardrobe and she sent a dozen dresses for Carina. Can you picture sending a baby a dozen ridiculous frilly poufy dresses? She'll never have occasion to wear them all before she outgrows them."

"Well maybe the next one will be a girl too and we'll be able to use them."

"It's possible, but male pregnancies do tend to produce a slightly higher proportion of boys than straight pairings."

"Oh, is that why only three out of our eight have been girls?"

"Yes. Now what did I forget to tell you about? Oh yes, the toy chests came from George, Angelina, Bill, and Fleur Weasley. I think Fleur bought them and George filled them with toys. I told the children they can't have anything in there until after you check everything out and make sure it's safe. I remember the last time I was at that joke shop they were selling telescopes that punched you when you looked through them; it's likely that there are dangerous things in there."

"Ly and Cassy got new toys and the boys didn't? That's not fair. If it's stuff from the joke shop, I can go pick up some for the boys of the same items. Otherwise, I could ask George where he went shopping."

"There are toys for all of the kids. There are only toy chests for Cassy and Ly, but inside each are four boxes of toys, each with a different name on them. I didn't want to go through it and get hurt myself, but it looks like he made an effort to buy gifts that are both gender and age specific."

"Now that sounds like Angelina's doing. George probably supplied all of the WWW merchandise and Angelina filled in the rest."

"Well the kids were excited about it. Ly was most excited about the dresses and Cassy the vanity, but the rest of them are waiting for those toys. The Weasley gift actually made the Abbott family gift that arrived behind it seem like a letdown."

"What did Hannah get then? Haven't we already covered everything in the room?"

"No, but we're getting there. The Abbotts sent the bedside tables. The bedclothes, however, came from my family."

"Your family?"

"The Rosiers and Crabbes are related on my mother's side. The Goyles and the Flints are related on my father's side. The Mulcibers and Notts are old family friends and my horrible aunt Bella was married into the Lestranges. None of their families came out of the war with their family members or Gringotts vaults intact, but they've all sent me small things for Scorp and Cael before. They didn't know about the other six and they could never afford to send much, but they, more than anyone else in the wizarding world, knew that Mother and I were poorly off. Their small gifts helped me get by before and if we really needed something we couldn't afford, we'd turn to them.

"They still can't afford extravagant gifts now, but they each purchased a set of linens, except for Mrs. Lestrange," Draco continued, Aries still suckling at his breast. "Mrs. Lestrange purchased both crib sets; she's doing a bit better than the others, because she publically went on record claiming that she was always in total disagreement with her two sons and her daughter-in-law. Of course she never stood up to them, but she was old and the Ministry saw fit not to completely wipe the old woman out."

"What crib sets? There aren't any cribs in here and I only see two sets of bedclothes; that isn't much for all of those families to have purchased together."

"Oh, there aren't just the two sets; there are eight complete sets, one for each child. Mother and I already set up the boy's beds and the cribs with the new sets. And Mrs. Crabbe sent a few spare white sheets as well; I think she remembers what it's like to have a toddler who wets the bed. I swear Vince must have wet the bed until he was nearly off to Hogwarts."

"Seriously? Crabbe was a bed wetter?" Harry asked chuckling.

Harry was quickly becoming aware of the many issues with bed wetting. When he came over early on weekends, Cyg and his wet bed had to be cleaned up before breakfast. Draco had shown Harry how to cast the charms to remove the odor, dry the bed, and freshen the toddler up. Harry had suggested using the overnight nappies muggles made for older children, but Draco had never heard of doing such a thing and Cyg had protested. Cyg didn't want to look like a baby wearing nappies, especially because none of the other children had ever worn them.

"Yes; that's why Greg and I never wanted to have sleep overs with him."

"Right. Let's go check out the other bed sets," Harry suggested, taking Carina with him to the nursery. Draco had finished nursing Aries at set him down, so he toddled along beside them babbling happily.

The new crib sets were certainly in better condition than the old ones, but Harry didn't particularly care for either. One crib set was unicorns and the other was abraxans and they were both a bit loud and gaudy for a baby, although Aries seemed to like his. From there they went to Brax and Cyg's room; the dragon sets were rather cool with flames extruding from the dragon's mouth that writhed like a holographic projection. The bed and window curtains were a fiery red and combined with the golden hue of the dragons, it reminded Harry of Gryffindor colors, but he didn't mention that to Draco. The new sets brought the room to life in a way that the plain old sets didn't. Now the rooms no longer looked identical and it wasn't blatantly obvious that all of the furniture was duplicated.

Next they went to Scorp and Cael's room. The battle scene between the dark wizards on one side and the light wizards on the other made Harry's blood pressure rise as he prepared to spring into action. Only there was no more threat in the room than the ugly holographic fight scene depicted on the blanket. Harry didn't know how anyone would ever be able to sleep with that on their beds, but at least the matching curtains were a nice shade of dark blue. Harry started making plans to buy matching plain blue bedspreads once Scorp and Cael start complaining of trouble sleeping. But at least the medieval style castle complete with princess in the background of the battling wizards gave Harry and idea.

"Draco?"

"Yes?"

"Next time, could you tell Skeeter that our girls really need goblin made tiaras and our boys need goblin made swords?" Harry asked. "Or something equally outrageous and extravagant, as if the only thing I _haven't_ provided was rare magical artifacts."

"Alright, if you will do a favor for me."

"What?"  
"Get rid of the pet Bicorn your dear friend Professor Hagrid sent to be a pet for our children. I managed to chain it up outside, but Mother is deathly scared of the beast."

"He didn't?" Harry asked with a gasp. Knowing Hagrid as he did, he probably should not have been surprised by the fact that Hagrid had sent the children such a dangerous and potentially lethal pet. Although, it did only kill married people and none of the children were married, nor were he or Draco. Draco's mother was the only one on the property at any risk from the creature.

"You know he did; giving a bicorn to a group of children isn't my idea of amusement."

"I'll get rid of it and have a talk with Hagrid. Maybe the Ministry will want it to harvest horns for polyjuice potion…"

* * *

Arthur's Note: Next chapter Harry will visit Lucius and Brax will get glasses.

The highest number of votes was for Carina being able to talk to snakes/animals, so I'm going to see if that fits. I'm thinking she might start talking to the peacocks on the Manor grounds.

Several people were concerned that I described Cygnus as the mediocre middle child. Maybe that was a little harsh, because Cyg isn't dumb or talentless, but in this group he doesn't stand out on either ground. Brax, Carina, and the new baby are all super intelligent geniuses when it comes to school. Scorp, Cael, and Lyra all have that Potter natural intelligence and don't have to study and aren't at all bookish. Now I didn't describe Lyra as a genius and I don't see her being as gifted as Harry's mother, but she's close.

In a group of nine children with 6 being highly intelligent, the only slightly above average Cyg looks mediocre. Cassy and Aries are both less intelligent, meaning average, when it comes to typical school learning, but they both have artistic and magical talents to offset that and make them stand out. So in that group, Cyg seems middle of the pack and even a little behind in some things, since he was the one born prematurely. It is only when the kids are older that they realize that Cyg is incredibly well-rounded, charismatic, out-going, and has a flair for business. I also see Cyg as one of those people who is always changing, never settling, so he might spend five years on a business venture with Fred II, then spend five years researching snails, and turn around and use the snail research to make better invisibility cloaks or something. Everything he does somehow turns to gold, bringing him in a profit. With all of those kids, they need someone to restore the family fortune and that someone is Cyg.


	11. Chapter 11

Draco, can I talk to you about something?" Harry asked, once he had successfully dressed Aries in his pajamas for bed. While he had handled the one squirming toddler, Draco had finished Cassy and Carina. Draco was now levitating toys back into the proper toy boxes and clothes into the laundry hamper. These days the children had so much stuff that the two old house elves couldn't handle it all.

"Yes. What about?" Draco asked curiously, while keeping an ear listen to the older children still bathing noisily.

"Well I was wondering if this new baby could have my last name. The first eight all have your last name. I didn't know they were mine when you named them, but I'd like at least one of them to have my name. I'm the last Potter and I don't want my last name to die with me;" especially not when Harry had nine biological children.

"You want me to give you one of my father's heirs?" Draco asked confused, pausing with a pair of children's underpants levitating in mid-air.

"Your father already has eight heirs after you; he doesn't need another one, so yes, I do."

"You'll have to talk to him about that."

"What? No, it's our child Draco; it's your decision whose name we give him or her."

"The first and middle names, yes, but the last name is to be the same as my last name. If I were to deviate from that, I would need my father's permission."

"But Lucius is in Azkaban," Harry protested.

"Yes, which means that if you want this baby to have your last name, you need to go to Azkaban and talk to my father. If the two of you come to an agreement, then it's fine with me."

"What do you mean an agreement?"

"Heirs aren't usually free Harry. Purebloods place a great deal of value on an heir. You are asking my father to transfer one of the Malfoy heirs to the Potter family. Our heirs and our house are the only things of value we have left. I don't imagine my father would just give such a valuable right away."

"Why does your father even have a say in this? They are our children—yours and mine—not his. Why can't you agree? I admit I was a non-existent dad before, but I didn't know they were mine. I've been trying my hardest to make up for that these past few months." It was early March now and Harry had known he was the second father for only two months, but had been helping Draco out for three.

"This isn't about your parenting skills; an heir is a legal matter. I am not married, therefore any children I have are considered by the Ministry to be heirs of my family and no other. As the head of my family, my father has the right to govern his heirs, including the right to transfer an heir. Unless we marry before this child is born, which I have no intension of doing by the way, then the baby cannot be your heir without my father's approval."

"So I have to talk to Lucius Malfoy," Harry concluded.

"Exactly."

"Great. Just great." Harry could only imagine what Lucius Malfoy would have to say about the situation. "Does he even know I'm the dad?"

"Yes. He does get the occasional Daily Prophet, but besides that, we all write to him on a regular basis. Actually Mother makes it part of their school exercises. After we found out, Scorp, Cael, Brax, and Lyra all wrote him letters about it. Mother and I wrote him as well."

"And what does he think about the fact that it's me and that I'm not a pureblood?"

"He said he was pleased."

"And you think he meant it?"

"Well I haven't had a chance to see him in person since finding out the news—they only let me visit twice a year—but I have no reason not to believe him. He's stood by me and the children all these years and in his letter he wrote that he was happy for us."

"He didn't say anything negative about me at all?"

"Well he wanted to make sure you were going to support us financially, but other than that, he said this was good news that we finally knew. Truthfully, after all these years, we're just happy to know who it is and have a hope of stopping it soon," Draco said.

"Alright, I'll think about it," Harry acquiesced.

Lucius, even from behind bars, seemed to have been there for the children more than Harry had. If Lucius was willing to continue to stand by them, then maybe Harry should have a talk with the only biological grandfather his children had. Harry thought about it all that night during the bedtime routine. He couldn't help but wonder how much the children had gotten to know Lucius, with only the biannual visits. Now he had to add in that in addition to the visits, there were letters being exchanged. Was it possible that Lucius Malfoy's hooks were already in his children? He would have to ask the children.

* * *

"How about this one Daddy? Stu the Dragon Makes Stew for Sue," Cael suggested, holding up a book.

"That one's stupid," Brax retorted, holding up his own. "I want Cecelia's Cilia."

"Those are both lame. Daddy, why can't you tell us a story about catching bad guys at work?" Scorp asked.

"Yeah!" Cael agreed.

Harry was in Scorp and Cael's room and the three boys were over at the bookcase, pulling out large colorful books and making a mess of it. A few of the books the boys had had all along, a good sized stack were from Andy for Christmas, and Harry had filled in the rest of the shelf with used books he'd picked up from the Weasleys, coworkers in the Auror department, and the local thrift store. The bookcase was far from full, but it was a start. Bedtime was one of his favorite times of day now, making his return trip to Grimmauld Place afterward a letdown.

Harry was supposed to be reading his oldest three sons a bedtime story. He had thought they'd go to each room reading children to sleep, but there were too many children in too many rooms for that. Instead Draco sent Brax into Cael and Scorp's room and Cyg into Lyra and Cassy's room, while Aries and Carina were put to bed in the nursery. Narcissa handled the girls tonight, while Harry took the boys, and Draco saw to the babies.

"I have a better idea: why don't you lot tell me one?" Harry asked.

"About what?" Brax asked skeptically.

"About your grandfather Lucius."

"What about him?" Scorp asked.

"Anything. What's it like visiting him or writing to him or what you've been told about him."

"You do know he's a Deaf Eater, don't you Daddy?" Cael asked.

"Yes, I know."

"And you know he's in Az'aban?" Brax asked.

"Yes."

"And we visit him and write him letters. That's it," Scorp finished.

It took a bit more prodding, but eventually Harry began to get an impression of what Lucius Malfoy was to the children. They knew Lucius wasn't perfect and did bad things, but they also loved him. They viewed him as the head of their family and despite it all, they were proud to be his grandchildren. He gave them their name, their pureblood status, and had somehow managed to become linked to their self-esteem. It didn't matter how poor they were, because as long as their grandfather was there telling them how much he loved them, everything would be alright.

Harry thought that a large part of the impression the children had of Lucius was due to how Draco and Narcissa talked about him. Lucius' wife and son still idolized the man and brought his name up at every significant development. It was always, _"What would Lucius say?"_ And _"What would Lucius do?"_ Or it was _"Lucius would be so pleased_,_"_ and _"Lucius wouldn't like that_._"_ It was like Lucius was god or something.

Harry wasn't pleased to realize this, but nor was he willing to yank away the rock that had held the family together. Instead he wanted to insert himself as a new, sturdier rock, adding to the strength and integrity of the system. His children were going through a dramatic period of change, so now was not a good time to add any more upheaval to the system. They had been dirt poor and so utterly unknown that there were only three people in the world who knew they existed. Now their money troubles were gone and they were so well known that they were frequently in the paper, with one outing generating enough material to keep them on the front page for a week straight. That was a big change for young children and Harry wanted to keep as much the same as possible. Unfortunately that meant keeping Lucius in their lives.

"Harry, you should be finishing up! It's bedtime!" Draco called from the sitting room, interrupting the discussion Harry had been having with the boys. He'd already put the babies to sleep and was picking up the mess in the sitting room.

"Alright, one quick story and then off to bed," Harry said.

"Harry Potter and the Dark Lord, then," Brax said, pulling out the boys' favorite story.

Whatever story they read first, they always ended with this one. It was one of the many stories written about Harry after the war; this particular one was the children's version that had been modified. It was another of Narcissa's school projects, this time fixing the childless happily ever after at the end of the book. The children had been tasked with adding in two pages to his life, with words and drawings. Now the book had a proper ending, with Harry finding his children and living happily ever after. He was very proud of his children's work and had sent a copy of the new pages to the original publisher, asking that they be added in to new versions of the book, because his life could never be complete without his kids.

"Why don't you read it to me, Brax? You've heard it enough times to have it memorized," Harry replied.

"Yeah, you'rea good reader Brax," Cael said, sounding slightly envious of his brother, and Scorp agreed.

"Alright, just let me get my reading glasses," Brax replied, going to his bed.

Harry had some experience with children and knew they loved having places to store treasures. He himself had stored old bits of food and broken toys cast off from Dudley on the shelves of his cupboard under the stairs. Thus when he'd been tasked with buying beds for the Malfoy children, he'd chosen the headboards with shelves and cubbyholes. Brax had his only stuffed toy, a large abraxan, in the cubbyhole of his bed, with his reading glasses, books, and shiny rocks on the shelf. Arthur and Molly Weasley had taken the children all out hunting for nice rocks a few weeks ago and then shown them how to polish the stones.

Brax pulled out his glasses, put them on, and opened the book.

Harry had peaked in at the children at school before and from a distance seen Brax wearing the glasses. He'd also seen Brax pull the glasses out to read or do homework, but he'd never really noticed them before or thought about how it was that a boy who'd never left Malfoy Manor had a pair of glasses. Aunt Petunia had complained about having to take Harry every year for a new pair, with the nosey teachers always insisting that he needed a proper pair. He'd just assumed that somehow Narcissa had snuck Brax out, under the guise of polyjuice or stuck to the muggle world, to get the glasses. Now that he had a good look at them, he wasn't so sure.

"Brax, where did you get these glasses?" Harry asked.

"From my gran'mother. She and Father have to save up, but they always bu'gget me a new pair every year," Brax answered.

"You didn't go with her to see an eye healer?"

"No, why would I?"

"So the eye healer can look at your eyes and tell you which strength of glasses you need," Harry explained.

"Why would we do all that, when Father already knows?"

"I just don't understand how he knows. May I see them?"

"Sure," Brax said, handing the glasses over.

They were the type of thing that was marketed towards old people who are going blind in their old age. Muggles sell these cheap plastic reading glasses in drugstores, no prescription required. Harry himself was nearsighted, with his own eye glass prescription in the opposite direction, so he had no use for reading glasses. Even with the reversal, his son obviously had inherited his weak eyes. But he didn't like the fact that Brax hadn't gone to a proper optometrist and was using such cheap glasses.

"Right, I'll have to take you to a proper healer and buy you some proper glasses," Harry concluded.

Brax's glasses were yet another example of Narcissa and Draco doing the best they could with next to no money. They couldn't afford real glasses, so they made do with this pair of junk. They probably guessed at the strength and since it'd been better than nothing, Brax had adapted.

"I want ta keep these. They're blue," Brax replied, grabbing his glasses back.

"Yeah, his last pair were all _girly_," Cael added.

"These ones are better," Scorp seconded.

"Gran'mother said she tried her best, but they were out of the good ones that year," Brax explained.

"Well you can keep these, but I want to buy you a new pair. And they have more choices, so they'll have cooler looking ones than these," Harry reasoned.

Brax was skeptical, but agreed. So far everything his new daddy had changed was for the better.

It was late, so in the interest of time, Harry read the story quickly. Tomorrow he'd get his boys to read to him, but tonight he needed to get them to sleep before Draco came in and took over.

After the story, Harry tucked Scorp and Cael into bed, applied a few kisses, and then walked Brax over to the room he shared with Cyg. Cyg was already fast asleep, as usual, so he had to be quiet tucking Brax in. Luckily Cyg seemed to be one of those kids who can sleep through anything. As usual, Harry got Brax to sleep and back out without bothering Cyg. Then he was left to go home and think about Lucius Malfoy.

* * *

It was difficult to arrange a visit with a prisoner in Azkaban. Harry put in his request and then went back to focusing on his children. Brax needed that appointment with an optometrist and that was something much easier to arrange. He'd long since traded in his old broken specs from his childhood for a new larger pair. Of course with his job his new pair had been broken and repaired about as many times as the old pair and the style was the same, but these ones were at least sturdier. But the point was that he already had an eye healer and said optometrist was willing to get his son in on short notice.

Harry had to take off a few hours early from work on Wednesday afternoon to take Brax for his appointment. His son seemed rather in awe of the place, but revealed he was most excited about having alone time with Harry, without any of his brothers or sisters there to share with. It hadn't occurred to Harry that Brax would feel that way, but with so many siblings, it was inevitable that there just wasn't enough parental attention to go around. He would have to arrange individual outings for each of them, so that they all could feel special.

Healer Comstock tested Brax's vision and as Harry suspected, he concluded that the cheap glasses were entirely the wrong prescription. Brax's eyes were weak and he was slightly nearsighted as well as far sighted. The fact that the child was used to using reading glasses was an indication that his eyes were weaker than would otherwise be indicated by his prescription.

"You see, Harry, it's about the range of focuses the eye can achieve. Your eyes have been set for short distances and you have a limited range, so you need glasses to see far away. Your son has the same limited range, but in the absence of proper glasses, he has made do by setting his range further out. That makes it almost impossible for him to read anything close up without his glasses," the healer explained.

"So what you're saying is that these crummy glasses have actually been keeping his eye from going like mine?" Harry asked. It was rather hard to believe that Draco's cheap plaster of a fix had actually been better than what was typically prescribed by medical professionals. What might his eyesight be like if he'd been given reading glasses too? It made so much more sense to wear glasses only when you are reading than to have to wear them all of the time, while running and chasing bad guys.

"Yes."

"In that case, what prescription reading glasses should I get him?"

"I actually think you ought to get him a bifocal, Auror Potter."

"No. His father has been buying him reading glasses. If they work better, then I'm not going to change that. Just tell me what his proper prescription is so I can buy him a real pair of reading glasses and not these plastic things," Harry insisted.

The healer acquiesced and wrote out a prescription for reading glasses that wasn't all that off from what Brax already had. They were a bit stronger, but not much. Harry then took his son to the adjoining glasses shop, where he told Brax he could pick out any frames he wanted. Brax choose a pair of round frames similar to Harry's, only blue. They watched together as the shop keeper spelled the correct lenses into the frames and handed them over.

"Wow, these really _are_ cooler than my old pair," Brax said, having a look at himself in the mirror. The lenses made his green eyes pop and the frames reminded Harry of a young blond-haired version of himself, only with a bit of Draco mixed in.

"I'm glad you like them Brax. What do you say we go next door and you can read the signs on the sweets for me? We can take a treat home for everyone," Harry suggested. There was a candy shop next door.

"I don't like chocolates."

Harry had brought chocolates home for the children a couple of times now. He thought the children needed fattening up, especially Scorp, because they were too thin. Carina was the only child who could be considered chunky. The toddlers were all slender, but not too thin, while the older children were too thin, with Scorp bordering on dangerously thin. Harry couldn't bring Scorp home treats and not bring something for the others, so he just made sure Scorp's treats were exceedingly high in calories.

Harry had thought the chocolates had been a huge hit with everyone, since Draco had never been able to afford sweets before, but evidentially not. "Well what do you like? What's your favorite food?"

"I love the berries in the summer; blueberries and blackberries and razberries."

"Hmm, I'm sure we can find some berries at the market, but we'll have to go by side-along." This strip of wizarding shops was in the small wizarding village by the Weasley's house. Everyone knew him here, so they were safe. But there wasn't a wizarding grocery store here and he couldn't risk taking Brax to a larger wizarding town, because they'd surely be spotted and mobbed. Thus they'd go muggle and need to apparate.

Brax had never been side-along apparated, so he didn't know what he was getting into. He wasn't even that proficient with floo travel. He agreed to it, but came out the other end vomiting. It was not at all how Harry pictured the father-son trip to the market. But Brax recovered quickly and Harry cleaned him up. The look on Brax's face when they went into the market was worth the ordeal.

There were rows upon rows of fruit, some of which Brax had only heard and read about. He'd only had food that was grown at Malfoy Manor, which meant that he'd never had any food that was hard to grow in England, including oranges. Brax picked up an orange and was fascinated by its perfectly spherical shape. Harry bought one for Brax to try. He loved it, so they bought a whole bag full to bring home to share. All in all, it was a successful outing and Harry realized that he'd learned things about his son that he didn't even know he didn't know. He'd have to arrange similar outings with his other children too.

* * *

The task of arranging a visit with Lucius Malfoy didn't turn out to be as challenging as Harry thought. His name still held a lot of weight, so by the end of the week, his request was granted. He went after lunch the next Monday. He and Ron were buried in paperwork at the moment, because they were in between cases, so he didn't mind the excuse to leave work early. He apparated over to the dock, boarded the Azkaban ferry, and waited in a stark white brick interview room for Lucius Malfoy. It was a gloomy March day and winter hadn't yet broke, so it was cold and drafty inside the wizarding prison.

Lucius' hands were cuffed when he was led into the room at wand point and chained to the chair, which was bolted down to the cement. He was wearing a grubby striped prison jumpsuit, his straggly grey hair matted with grime, and his fingernails were black. The man looked awful.

"Lucius," Harry said.

"Auror Potter," Lucius acknowledged, nodding. "I want to thank you for what you've been doing for my grandchildren. They mean the world to me; their letters keep me going."

"Yeah, well I didn't do it for you; they are my kids."

"Yes. I was so pleased for Draco when I received that letter informing me of the joyous news."

"So you don't mind that I'm the other parent to all nine of your grandkids?"

"No, far from it; I'm happy for them to have you."

"And why is that? You would've handed me over to Voldemort without batting an eye during the war."

"I was wrong."

"And you see that now?"

"I saw that before the war was over."

"And yet you did nothing."

"There was nothing I could do; I had no wand and neither did Cissy. Draco was the only one of us with a wand. He was a child and pregnant at the time; we just wanted him to protect and defend himself. Surely you wouldn't have asked more of him?"

"Him, no, but you, yes."

"I wish I did do more," Lucius said solemnly. "I am ashamed of my actions. I have disgraced my family and my wizarding heritage; I was wrong and I acknowledge it, but there is nothing I can do from in here to repay my debt to society. My wife, son, and grandchildren are being punished for my crimes, while I can do nothing to help them or to atone for the wrong I have done."

"They will pay for your crimes no longer; I'll see to that."

"Thank you."

"But that's not what I came here to talk to you about."

"What _did_ you come here to talk to me about Auror Potter?"

"My ninth child. You are aware that Draco is pregnant again by me?"

"Yes."

"I would like to give my child my name. The first eight have Draco's name, so I think it's only fair that this one should have mine."

"Do you plan on marrying my son?"

"No and he doesn't want that."

"I should think not; he can't stand the thought after what your people did to him."

"I saw to it that Aescwine and Vance were punished; I was appalled when I found out what they did."

"Nevertheless, it is done and my son is permanently damaged from it."

"Yes, he is."

"And as long as my son remains unmarried, his children will bear my name," Lucius concluded, as if the issue were closed and unchangeable.

"I talked to Draco about this and he is willing to give this child my name, if you would be agreeable."

"No."

"Excuse me?" Harry was at least expecting some discussion on the subject; he never thought Lucius would turn him down flat.

"No. They are my heirs and I will claim them as such. They may have a shameful origin at the Dark Lord's hands, but I love them all. I will not turn my back on any of them; not even for you, Savior Potter."

"Urg! I'm not asking you to turn your back on them! I'm just asking that you allow me to give one of them my name!"

"It's the same thing."  
"It is _not_ the same thing!"

"It is to me. While I am in here, there is nothing I can give my grandchildren, besides my name and my full acceptance as my heirs. I have the right to give them both and I intend to give them everything I can."

"But don't you think that having my name and being my heir is more valuable? Or at least, as valuable?"

"It is not my place to say."

"Because you know I'm right and you're hurting your grandchildren by preventing one of them from having a more valuable last name and being an heir to a greater fortune."

"I have no fortune what-so-ever to leave any of them, it's true, but I cannot change that; I can't change the past, even for them."

"But you could let them inherit my money."

"You are free to leave your fortune to my heirs if you so choose."

"That's not what I want; I want your heirs, _my children_, to be _my_ heirs. I don't think you've any right to them."

"They are the only beings I do have a right to, besides my son and my wife. I have no material possessions; not even these clothes on my back are mine to claim, but my family is still my family."

"They're my family too."

"Legally they are not."

"Look, you're being difficult on purpose. What do I need to do to make you sign over this new baby to me as my heir so I can give him or her my name?"

"You would need to give something of equal value to me to give my grandchildren in return."

"Like what? I don't think you want my name."

"Your name no; your help, yes."

"My help with what?"

"I would like to spend more time with my family; I think time would be an acceptable trade."

"How much time? An extra visit every year?" Harry could probably arrange that easily. Not that he wanted his children here, but he didn't think Draco would ever agree to cutting off the visits completely. If the children were already visiting twice per year, then increasing it to three times couldn't do any additional harm.

"No. I want to see them on a daily basis. I want to be part of their lives and for them to know what it is like to have a loving grandfather. Surely you would want the same for your children."

"Absolutely not! I don't want my kids here every day! Are you mad?" Harry thought then about the fact that Arthur Weasley was willing to play the grandfather role with the children, so they didn't need Lucius.

"Not yet, no. I don't want my grandchildren here at all."

"Good, then we agree on something."

"They wouldn't have to visit me here if you had my sentence commuted to house arrest," Lucius said.

Harry's jaw dropped. "You can't be serious? You want me to get you out of here? I can't do that!"

"You can."

"You deserve the time you got. Many lives were lost because of you."

"And I am sorry for that, but what harm could I do if I was under house arrest? I'm not a young man Auror Potter; I would not attempt to leave the Manor and I would devote myself to helping my wife and son with my grandchildren. I have no ulterior motive, besides my family's happiness and well-being."

"They are happy and just fine without you."

"Have you read the letters my grandchildren write me?"

"No…" But Harry did have some idea of how fond the children were of their written correspondence with their grandfather.

"Then you cannot possibly know how much they love me and miss having a grandfather in their lives. A grandfather is something that not even you can give them…"

"Unless I give them you, is that it?" Harry didn't say it, but he was thinking that Arthur was a better grandfather hands down. He worried though that Lucius would be upset to learn that a Weasley was filling in his place and since he was trying to get something from Lucius, he didn't think saying that would help.

"Precisely. I'm glad we could see eye to eye on this. Do we have an agreement?"

"No, I need to think about it more. But just so we're clear, if I were to convince a warlock to commute your sentence to house arrest, you would agree to let the new baby be my heir and have my name?"

"No."

"But, I thought you said…" Harry started, but Lucius cut him off.

"I said I would give you one of my heirs, but not which one. I would give you the one who would make the best Potter; the one who is the most like you."

"Cassy?" Harry asked. He wouldn't mind having Cassy as his heir and giving her his name. He'd take all of them if he could.

"No, Cassy may look the most like you, but she is not the most like you. I would give you the one who has the most Potter spirit. I knew your father and your grandfather and I know you now Auror Potter; one of my grandsons has the same spirit. Do you not know which?"

"Scorp?" Harry guessed. It had been Scorp who was brave enough to reach out to him and write that letter.

"Scorp is bold, it is true, but calculated boldness is a Malfoy trait as well. You don't know." Lucius said knowingly.

"Why don't you just tell me?" Whichever child Lucius said, Harry was fairly certain the answer would be to suit some scheme of Lucius'; what that scheme could possibly be, he didn't know.

"Caelum Lucius Malfoy is the Gryffindor in the bunch, mark my words. Draco will deny it if you ask him, but Caelum is the Potter."

"But Cael looks like a Malfoy! He's even named after you!"

"Yes and he's a fine namesake; I wouldn't give him up for anything less than my release from this place."

"What are you playing at? Why do you want to give me Cael?"

"Because he is the one who wants it."

"Huh?"

"If you had read the letters Cael writes to me every week, you would know that he is the only one who would be willing to take your name. You must know the children have talked about it."

"No, I didn't know…" Harry hadn't yet had a chance to spend time with Cael alone. He'd arranged another outing, this one with Scorp to get a haircut, but hadn't had time to do the other children yet.

Harry had learned a lot about Scorp during the trip, including the fact that his son desired a broom and a set of Quidditch balls more than anything else in the world. Teddy had his own broom and Harry had a set of balls and an old broom, but Harry hadn't yet had occasion to buy Scorp a broom. He would've gone out and gotten one just because, if Scorp was his only child, but he couldn't get Scorp a present without getting the other kids presents. He'd suggested getting all of the kids presents to Draco, but Draco said that that set a bad precedent and to wait for their birthdays. Their birthdays weren't all that far away, so he would get Scorp a broom then. In the meantime, he'd borrowed a number of old brooms for the children from the Weasleys.

"Oh?" Lucius asked, raising one eyebrow in surprise. "Well they have. My little Scorp, now that one is a Slytherin through and through, he writes to me and tells me what the children talk about when my wife and son are out of the room. Apparently they all had an argument about it. It was after reading an article in the paper that mentioned the possibility that you and my son were getting married and that all of the children would be taking your name. Scorp led the campaign against changing their names and managed to get all of the others, except Cael, to agree with him. Cael wrote me and said he still loves me, but that he wanted to take your name. I wrote him back that I understood and that I wasn't mad at him. I cannot be there physically, but at least I can be understanding."

"Cael wants my name?" Harry asked; he had never considered this possibility. Sure Cael was the daredevil in the group, but he had never said anything. It had been Scorp who thought Harry was their dad, while Cael had been certain Harry wasn't. But Cael accepted Harry now and if Lucius could be believed, Cael would be accepting of the Potter name. Harry would have to arrange an outing with Cael next and ask. If it was true, then it meant that Lucius really did know the children better than Harry did.

"Yes; I would let you read the letter, but I don't have it on me."

"Can you owl it to me?"

"No; it's my letter from one of my beloved grandchildren. It's priceless to me."

"Right."

"Well Auror Potter, do we have a deal?"

"I'll have to think about it," Harry said.

* * *

Author's Note: What do you think? Has Lucius served enough time? Is it time for him to come home? Is Caelum's last name worth his grandfather's release?

Draco's healer appointment will be next. It'll be his first time out in public in years.


End file.
